


I Look At You (But I Think Of You Even More)

by thanku4urlove



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: (14 if you count the person that wrote this), (that applies to one (1) of the relationships), Alternate Universe - College/University, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Meetings, Getting Together, Humor, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Minor Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8, POV Alternating, Radio Host Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Romantic Fluff, and a lil bit of drama, if you're looking for plot like my last multichap I am sorry to disappoint, this is just 13 college students being gay disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 61,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25788268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanku4urlove/pseuds/thanku4urlove
Summary: Vernon likes the guy that calls in to his radio show to insult his taste in music, despite not knowing his name or what he looks like. Jihoon wants to finish this composition for his Music Theory class and not kill his roommates. (Junhui and Soonyoung should probably sleep with one eye open. Wonwoo can stay, but he's on thin ice.) Seungcheol wants his friends to stop teasing him about the crush he definitelydoesn'thave on the cute waiter at the restaurant off campus. Seungkwan just wants to stay focused and get through the semester.Not everything goes as planned.
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 143
Kudos: 402





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I WANTED THIS TO BE SOMETHING SHORT AND LIGHT AND FUN I COULD WORK ON WHILE I POSTED ONE MISSED CALL but. As you can see. It is 5 chapters. Five VERY long chapters.  
> ANYWAY it is still very light and fun! it's really just the boys being friends and falling in love bc that's what I (and the world) need right now I think. It is also very gay. I planned the entire thing (and wrote half of it) during pride month and it shows lol  
> the title is a lyric from Oh My! bc college aus aren't original and neither am i
> 
> additional warning in this chapter for cheol posting a thirst trap gym selfie on instagram

“You are now tuned in to Chilli Sauce, this campus’s one-stop-listening-shop for your favorite rap, hip hop, and pop tunes. This next song is older, but won’t stop being gold; everyone please enjoy _A Midsummer Night’s Sweetness_ by San E and Raina.” 

Vernon leaned back from the mic as the song began playing through the headphones, listening to the vocal lead up before beginning to bop his head along to the slow beat. Then he noticed both of his coworkers staring at him, pulling the headphones off one ear so they laid skewed on the top of his head.

“What?” He asked. Chan was just looking at him, but Chan was often looking at him; Chan was a first year college student, and was new to the campus radio’s student family, so while he didn’t do much more than run odd jobs and give out suggestions for song selection that had no obligation of being picked up, he was surprisingly passionate about the job. And about his classes. And about everything else, really. Vernon found it as inspiring as it was exhausting. Chan seemed to think he had something to learn from watching Vernon while he was on the air, something that Vernon truly didn’t understand, because Vernon felt that all he was really did was sit in the chair, talk, and push the right buttons at the right moments. 

It was Vernon’s second year working at the university’s radio station, and only his first year being a radio host, but for some reason people seemed to like him, his personality, and his music choices. He didn’t try too hard to understand it--aside from the music choices thing, he had a dope taste in tunes and he knew it--but it was nice all the same.

“You just said ‘tunes’. Rap tunes.” Jihoon was grinning. Jihoon was another one of Vernon’s coworkers, and they were always in the building at the same time. Vernon was pretty sure that Jihoon was, in some shape or form, his boss. Some type of station management, anyway; he was older than Vernon was, and had worked there for longer. He also knew a lot about music, and while Vernon had never hung out with Jihoon outside of them seeing each other at the radio station, Vernon did consider them to be friends; Jihoon was pretty chill, and liked to let Vernon help every once and awhile on whatever new piece of music he was throwing together. Vernon didn’t really write his own music, but seeing Jihoon do it for his Music Theory major was always cool to watch. “Tunes is stupid, so it was funny.” 

Chan, who had been mouthing the word “tunes” to himself, capped the ballpoint pen he’d been using to--well, Vernon wasn’t sure what he was using it for, but it did sort of look like he’d been taking notes--and glanced down at his lap.

“It was cool, you mean.” Vernon corrected with a smile, while Jihoon raised an eyebrow. “I did it, so it’s cool.” 

“That’s the criteria we’re basing ‘cool’ on now?” Jihoon gave an exhale through his nose, looking highly unimpressed. “Lame.” 

“Yes. Having braces in high school is now cool. Breaking your ankle while doing the Shoot is cool. Being bi--well that was always cool.” 

“Is wearing two different types of tie-dye cool?” Chan asked, pointing to Vernon’s outfit. He did have on two different types of tie-dye, but it hadn’t been intentional; the tie-dye t-shirt was just one of many that he owned, and his rainbow tie-dye hoodie was one he wore so often that he hadn’t thought twice about grabbing it from the foot of his bed and tugging it on. He probably needed to throw it in the wash, honestly. 

“That’s chill, actually.” He corrected, and Jihoon laughed. 

“How cool is it to get rushed to the medical center on campus at two in the morning because--what was it you said happened? Your friend’s roommate kicked you in the back of the head?” Jihoon asked, still laughing. Before Vernon could defend himself for that event--because yes, it had happened, and he’d almost broken his nose, but it wasn’t his fault that Mingyu’s roommate Seungcheol was just one big, protein-shake-filled muscle--the song ended, and he was back on the air.

“Our time together is almost up, so it’s time for my favorite thing: One Small Happiness. First, I’ll share something that happened today that made me smile, and then I’ll take one caller to share their smile, too.”

This “One Small Happiness” really was Vernon’s favorite segment, for a couple of reasons. The first thing he liked about the segment was the way it made him look over his day, made him find a small happiness in it, because regardless of how awful the day might have gone, there was always something, always one thing that he could smile about, and that was nice to take stock of. 

“This morning, I was eating a chocolate croissant on my way to class--which was delicious, first of all, so I could just count that, but I want everyone to know--I saw a duck today. On my way to class. It was cool.” 

He tacked the last bit on just to watch Jihoon and Chan struggle to hold in laughter, rewarded greatly by watching Jihoon’s face scrunch up as he put a hand over his mouth and slumped out of his chair. 

“I will now be taking a caller to share One Small Happiness!” 

The second thing Vernon liked about the segment was talking to the show’s listeners. He wasn’t popular or anything, but it was still nice to have a short conversation with someone he knew was probably similar to himself, in music taste if nothing else, and hearing about the happiness of others really did make him happy too. He was already smiling as the call connected.

“Hello, you’re on the air. What made you smile today?” 

“You playing Raina on the radio, for one,” came a voice, and Vernon couldn’t help but smile wider, not even needing to look over to know that Jihoon was rolling his eyes. “Maybe your music taste is getting better. You’d better not come back on Monday with Loopy, or something. I only know what name because of you, by the way.” 

“You’re welcome.” Vernon said. “Loopy is cool.” Then, when the smile in his voice had become too much to ignore, and he knew it, and he didn’t even care-- “Hi, Seungkwan.”

The third thing Vernon liked about the segment was Seungkwan. Seungkwan was a frequent call-in to the show, someone Vernon had come to recognize, someone who was obviously a frequent listener, despite how often he would insult--playfully, but still--Vernon’s favorite music. Vernon didn’t know Seungkwan personally, with no idea who he was or what he looked like, but liked him anyway; Seungkwan was excellent on the air, never quiet or awkward, always snapping back at Vernon in the funniest ways. 

It was usually frowned upon to let the same caller on the radio multiple times, but everyone else seemed to like Seungkwan, too; there was always a small spike in listeners when Seungkwan had called in, and they’d gotten multiple requests from Twitter to get Seungkwan in as a regular. 

“Hi, you.” Seungkwan responded, the informal language making Vernon laugh. “If a duck really is the coolest thing that happened to you today, you need better friends.” 

“I have awesome friends!” Vernon exclaimed. Jihoon still hadn’t gotten up from the floor. “What happy thing happened to you today? Did you do something with your friends?” 

“My friends are weirdos.” Seungkwan’s tone had gone airy and flippant. “But I was singing while doing my homework, and I found out that I know every word to every track on Son Dambi’s _Back to Eighties_ album, so that was fun for me.”

“Oh, nice!” Vernon was well aware by now that Seungkwan’s favorite music was pop, usually songs done by female artists or groups. “That’s always fun.”

“And then after that victory, I tuned in to your show, and you were over here playing Verbal Jint.”

“Verbal Jint is awesome!” Vernon exclaimed. That jab did actually hurt a little bit, and Jihoon obviously agreed, getting to his feet with his mouth open in indignation. 

“Yes, he did a lot for the Korean music scene, but his collaboration with Taeyeon is still the best thing he’s ever done.” 

“What, _I?_ He was barely in that song.”

“Your point?” 

Seungkwan’s voice was so flat that Vernon couldn’t help but laugh. He wanted to continue the debate, but unfortunately, they were already out of time to talk. He always ran out of time too quickly when talking to Seungkwan.

“Well, congratulations on your Son Dambi victory.” Vernon said, and the call disconnected. “Just for you, our last song of the day will be something a little special.” 

He didn’t have the song prepared, having to find it and connect it to the broadcast manually, but it was worth the shocked looks on Jihoon and Chan’s faces when Son Dambi’s _Queen_ started blasting over the radio. 

“Really?” Jihoon was still in disbelief as they were packing up to leave, Vernon, Jihoon, and Chan all walking out of the radio room together. The sun had gone down a couple of hours ago, but Vernon had eaten before his broadcast started, so all that was left was to go back to his dorm.

“What?” Vernon asked back. 

“You won’t play Bruno Mars for me--an artist that I know you like--but Son Dambi? _Queen?_ Really?”

“It was funny.” Vernon told him. “Besides, it’s kind of the only Son Dambi song I know, anyway. I bet he liked it.” 

“He liked it.” Jihoon repeated. Chan seemed extremely content to just watch Jihoon’s incredulity. “You’re whipped. Completely. I can’t believe you have a crush on someone that doesn’t appreciate Verbal Jint.”

“I don’t even know him.” Vernon countered. 

“Doesn’t matter. You like him.” 

“I like his voice.” Vernon conceded, because he knew he was bad at lying. “And I mean… I guess I kind of like it when he teases me, but that doesn’t mean that I like him, you know?” 

“You like it. When he teases you.” Jihoon’s skeptical eyebrow raise was back. “Kinky.” 

“Hey!” Vernon yelped, Chan busting out laughing, but they’d already reached the crossroads where Jihoon split from them to go towards his apartment, and Jihoon was already walking away, waving a goodbye over his head without looking back. 

When Vernon returned to his dorm room his roommate Minghao was there, sprawled out in the middle of the floor, a sketchbook a few feet away. He was laying on his front, his arms outstretched, his pencil just barely touching the paper. Vernon couldn’t tell if the pose was dramatic, lazy, or a new “method” Minghao was trying. Honestly, it could be anything. 

“Sup, Haowski.” Vernon greeted, dropping his backpack onto his bed. Without even turning to look, Minghao threw his pencil at Vernon. It didn’t hit him, but it was close, Vernon laughing as he dodged out of the way. 

“That was gross.” Minghao said. Then he flipped over, lying on his back, waving a bit in greeting. Vernon waved back. “Never call me that again.” 

He looked slightly annoyed, but Vernon could tell that he wasn’t, and that it was all for the joke. After rooming with Minghao for the past three semesters, Vernon had learned that Minghao was very expressive, and had spent the last year learning what his expressions meant. The sharpness his face was holding now, despite not actually being annoyed, told Vernon that something was bothering his friend. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked, sitting on his bed. “Did something happen today?”

Minghao didn’t ask how Vernon knew, crawling across the floor instead to get his pencil back. For a moment, Vernon thought Minghao wasn’t going to answer him, deciding not to push the issue as he watched Minghao go back to sketching. Then Minghao let out a dramatically loud sigh and flopped onto his back again. 

“Condom Guy!” He exclaimed, and Vernon burst out laughing. He fell back on his bed, hitting his head against the wall, and that made Minghao laugh back. 

“Ah--what happened? What happened with Condom Guy?” Vernon asked, and Minghao let out another long-suffering sigh. 

Minghao had a job with the university’s Health Services department. Part of Vernon felt that Minghao had gotten the job just to pretend he had authority when he told Vernon not to drink cold water, or tried to make Vernon to eat some weird super fruit that was “good for his health”, but honestly the job seemed pretty easy. Minghao was just made to sit behind the Health Services desk and give people pamphlets about the dangers of stress and the benefits of safe sex. Then Condom Guy began showing up. 

“Can’t he take more than one?” Minghao exploded, gesturing widely with his hands, and Vernon began laughing again. “It’s not a bag of Halloween candy out on someone’s porch. There’s no ‘maximum of two’ sign. He’ll be back in like… Three days. A week at most! Why does he only take one condom?”

Condom Guy was what Minghao had started calling a student that would come into the Health Services building every couple of days to take advantage of the bowl of free condoms they had out on display. Because of the whole safe sex thing, Vernon presumed. 

“And like--” Minghao sat up fast. “Does he need to?”

“Need to what?” Vernon asked, still incredibly amused. “Get condoms?”

Minghao blew his bangs out of his eyes, the annoyed expression on his face again.

“Like, he’s handsome, but does he really need to look me in the eye when he reaches into the bowl? I already know he has an absolutely insane sex life. He doesn’t need to rub it in.” 

Vernon clutched at his sides, able to feel his eyes watering from laughing, and Minghao reached his foot out to give Vernon a light kick in the leg. 

“I’m glad my distress amuses you.” He said dryly, prompting Vernon up into a sitting position. 

“Come on, it is funny.” Vernon told him. “If the guy starts talking to you, that’s when I’ll worry. But you? You can beat up anyone.” 

“Okay, that is true.” Minghao admitted after a moment, the lack of humility making Vernon laugh again. 

“Besides, you always say how handsome he is.” Vernon pointed out. “Every single time you bring him up, you have to comment on how his face looks. And that it looks good, apparently.” 

Minghao let out a snort, repositioning himself all star-fished on the floor and pressing the tip of his pencil back onto the paper of his sketchbook. 

“I don’t.” 

“Like two seconds ago, you literally said ‘he’s handsome, but’--” Before Vernon could finish the sentence, Minghao’s pencil was hurtling towards his head again, Vernon letting out a wild giggle as he ducked out of harm’s way. 

“You can shut up.” Minghao told him. “I give you express permission to close your mouth forever. You’re welcome.” 

“Thanks.” Vernon said. The single word had Minghao looking disapprovingly down at him over the frames of the fake glasses he had perched on the tip of his nose, so Vernon mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key instead.

“Better.” Minghao allotted. “Now give me my pencil back. And then start doing your homework, so I can stare at you. I need to sketch you.” 

“Your sketches never look anything like me.” Vernon complained, but did as Minghao requested, mostly because he did have homework he really needed to get done, and it was easier to focus when he couldn’t leave his desk chair without Minghao snapping at him. Part of Vernon had a suspicion that Minghao only did it because he knew that it helped Vernon out, and he appreciated it, though he knew Minghao would probably never admit it to be true. He just pulled his books out, a grin on his face, and got started.

  
  


At first, the creative block was just annoying, like all creative blocks were. After a couple of weeks had passed, it had graduated from annoying to upsetting, Jihoon staring down at the empty page of his composition notebook and willing his brain to think of something, _anything,_ that he could write down. Now, Jihoon was glaring at the five lines he had managed to force onto the page, and rage was curling in his stomach. 

“Hey,” he started, Wonwoo not pausing his Playstation game or even glancing over, simply leaning slightly in anticipation of the question Jihoon was about to ask, comfortable enough to place himself just inside Jihoon’s space without getting too close. “What’s it like to not want to kill a man?” 

Wonwoo shrugged. “I don’t know. Boring, I guess.” 

On a normal day, that would have made Jihoon laugh. But he was working on a song for a prestigious composition competition, and was supposed to have been working on this song for the past five weeks, and had gotten absolutely nowhere. He would strangle someone, anyone, if that meant squeezing out even a single spark of creativity. It was probably good that Soonyoung was down at the laundromat right now, and not in the apartment with himself, Wonwoo, and Junhui. 

“MOON JUNHWI!” 

The shout was muffled, far off, and speak of the goddamn devil, it was Soonyoung. Unlike Wonwoo, Junhui did look up upon being addressed, watching the apartment’s front door. The three of them were treated to the distinct sound of Soonyoung stomping up the stairs and then he was in the room, bursting through the door, an overflowing basket of laundry in his arms.

“Hey.” Wonwoo greeted, pausing his game and waving, but he was thoroughly ignored. 

“I’ve asked you nicely!” Soonyoung was directing his full attention at Junhui, who was just looking back. “I’ve asked you rudely! I’m done asking!”

Soonyoung threw down his basket of laundry, a few of Jihoon’s shirts bouncing out onto the floor. At least they were folded. Soonyoung had knocked over the tower in an extremely high-stakes game of Truth or Dare Jenga a couple of weeks back, and had been charged with doing everyone in the apartment’s laundry for the next two months. For the most part, Soonyoung didn’t complain--he had lost fair and square, and he admitted that--but a recent problem had popped up with Junhui, and Jihoon already knew what this was about, and was already pursing his lips in an attempt to hold in a laugh. 

“What?” Junhui asked, his expression so innocent that Wonwoo snorted out a giggle next to him on the couch. 

“Why. Do you keep. Leaving unopened condoms in your pockets?!” Soonyoung exploded. “Take them out! Take them out of your pockets! I am not going fish through your jeans to find them, but do you know how weird I look just grabbing the handful of condoms that are left in the bottom of the dryer?!” 

To prove his point, Soonyoung dug into his pants pocket, grabbed what had to be at least seven unopened condoms, and threw them at Junhui. Junhui let them fall into his lap.

“How do you know that it’s me?” Junhui asked back. 

“It has to be you!” Soonyoung exclaimed. “We know that it’s you. Jihoon is a hermit--”

“Thanks.” Jihoon said, Wonwoo choking back another laugh.

“--and Wonwoo doesn’t think that anyone is sexy--”

“Hey, I think that people are sexy.” Wonwoo countered. “I just don’t want to have sex with them.” 

“--and it’s not me. So it’s you! These are yours!” Soonyoung pulled two more condoms out of his pocket and hurled them at Junhui too, but he dodged those. “You don’t even have a sex life Junhui, so I don’t know _why--”_

Soonyoung’s voice died in his throat as Junhui pulled another condom from his jeans and placed it on the coffee table between them, not breaking eye contact with Soonyoung. Jihoon didn’t know what was funnier: Soonyoung’s horrified vindication or Junhui’s absolutely deadpan face, unable to control how loudly the laugh burst from his mouth. 

“Why?” Soonyoung yelled.

“Perfect.” Wonwoo said. “Here, Soonyoung. This one is probably safe to use.” He chucked it in Soonyoung’s direction. “So use it when you finally do something about that pathetic little crush you have.” 

Though he was already laughing, Jihoon was near-sure that those words would kill him, leaning hard into Wonwoo’s side in an effort not to fall off the couch. 

“I don’t--you--” Soonyoung had caught the condom, and nobody missed him slipping it into his palm. “I don’t need to take this abuse from you people. All of you are animals.” 

Junhui growled back at him, curling his hands into claws.

“Don’t!” Soonyoung shouted at him, then turned from the room and was gone. Jihoon slid completely onto the floor. 

By the time Jihoon could breathe again, Wonwoo had gone back to playing his game and Junhui was sitting on the floor, separating out the clean laundry by who owned it. Jihoon thanked Junhui and put his share of clothes away, reentering the living room to find only Wonwoo left, engrossed in his game again.

“Where did Jun go?”

“Soonyoung’s room.”

With the idiocy gone and the room quiet, Jihoon was forced to refocus on the notebook in his lap. 

“So, what’s wrong with it?” Wonwoo asked after a couple of moments, nodding his head towards Jihoon’s notebook. “Why do you hate it so much?” 

“I just have no inspiration.” Jihoon answered. “I can’t think of anything. Nothing that fits, anyway, because…” 

The competition he was submitting the piece to had the potential to turn into a bit of a freelancing job, if the song got first, if it filled the need the people were looking for, if it best fit the prompt. Maybe he was just nervous, but that hadn’t gotten in his way this badly before. 

“So you need some inspiration?” Wonwoo asked, and Jihoon shrugged. Inspiration would be a start. “Maybe you should try going somewhere.”

“Going somewhere?” Jihoon echoed. 

“You know.” Wonwoo leaned towards him, as though to bump shoulders, and Jihoon leaned away. “Stretching your legs. Breathing some fresh air.” 

“But I don’t like fresh air.” Jihoon complained, and Wonwoo laughed a little.

“You don’t have to sit outside. You could go to the library.” 

Jihoon didn’t think it would probably be very smart to try and compose music in a library, a place that was supposed to be silent at all times, but he knew that Wonwoo was genuinely trying to help, and didn’t want to try and shoot him down too hard.

“Okay.” He said instead.

“I’m serious.” Wonwoo insisted, and maybe Jihoon hadn’t been as discrete with his skepticism as he thought. “A change of scenery. It’ll help, I promise you.” 

“Alright.” Jihoon was already regretting agreeing, knowing that Wonwoo would hold him to his word. “I will.” 

Junhui never reappeared from Soonyoung’s room, Jihoon guessing that somewhere in the two of them hanging out, they’d fallen asleep. Once midnight hit, Wonwoo turned his game off and declared that he was going to bed, asking if Jihoon was turning in too. 

“Nah.” He didn’t have any early classes the next day, so staying up wouldn’t hurt. “I think I want to wrestle with this a little bit more.” 

Wonwoo just shrugged, and went to bed. Jihoon stayed up for two more frustrating hours before realizing he’d scratched out nearly everything he’d written and throwing in the towel. It was annoying, that mood carrying on even after he’d woken up, dragging himself out of bed and down the street for coffee. The cafe he was going to wasn’t the cheapest, or the closest place by campus, but Soonyoung was the shift manager and, more importantly, Joshua Hong worked there. 

Joshua was someone Jihoon had met through the classes they were taking, both of them majoring in Music Theory. Joshua had approached Jihoon first, and was relatively easy-going and easy to talk to, so Jihoon talked to him, and they’d sort of become friends. At the end of the previous year, in desperation, Joshua had asked for Jihoon’s help on the composition they had to write for the class’s last assignment, evaluated like a final exam, something the overall grade was heavily dependent on. Jihoon agreed to help him, and the resulting composition had raised Joshua’s final grade by nearly ten points, so now Joshua gave Jihoon free coffee from the cafe that he worked at. 

Coffee wasn’t Jihoon’s usual caffeinated beverage of choice, so he didn’t drink it too often, and usually didn’t even come to the cafe unless he knew Soonyoung would be working. But he’d been in the mood for something warm, not thinking too much about how he didn’t really recognize any of the baristas behind the counter as his order was prepared. When the drink was ready and Jihoon grabbed at it though, the barista didn’t let go of the cup. 

“That’ll be $5.85.” He said. Jihoon blinked at him, unsure of what to do. 

“...okay?” He asked, and the barista stared at him. Jihoon stared back, and the barista’s face--a stupidly handsome face on a man that was too stupidly tall--broke out into a smile. A smile that, while trying very hard to look friendly, was slightly condescending. It was the epitome of a polite customer service face. 

“Five dollars. And eighty-five cents. That’s how much this coffee costs.” He said, slower this time, and Jihoon realized that the barista expected him to pay.

“Oh, no. I’m Lee Jihoon.”

The man stared again, his smile a little tighter. 

“Okay Lee Jihoon, that’ll be $5.85.”

Jihoon wasn’t in the mood for this to be a problem, wasn’t in the mood to put up a fight, but he and Joshua had made a deal. That, and Jihoon hadn’t brought his wallet with him. Because he was stupid, he supposed. 

“When did you start working here?” Jihoon decided to ask, and the barista--Mingyu, his name tag said Mingyu--shrugged a little. 

“Beginning of the semester, I guess. What does that have to do with your coffee?”

“Can I talk to your shift manager?” Jihoon hoped against hope that Soonyoung was here, just hiding in the back somewhere. Soonyoung knew about his arrangement with Joshua; Soonyoung could vouch for him. 

“Seriously?” Mingyu’s customer service facade was fading. He looked a little angry. It was kind of sexy, actually. 

“Just--is he here?”

“No. He isn’t.”

“And Joshua Hong isn’t here either?”

Mingyu made a bit of a face, leaning in close. His hand slid down the side of the cup as he did, the side of his pinky touching Jihoon’s pointer finger. 

“Listen.” He said, his voice lower. People _this_ attractive did not work at coffee shops, Jihoon found himself thinking. “I’m sure that face you’re making works most of the time, and you look exactly like the kind of guy that I would just love to give free coffee to, but I seriously can’t. I got told off last week for giving away too many cookies, and this is over five dollars, really, just--”

Jihoon jolted back, feeling his ears burn. 

“No, I--” Flustered, mildly offended, and annoyed at how long this was taking, Jihoon pulled his phone out. He called Joshua’s number, putting his cell on the counter and pressing the “speaker” button so Mingyu could both see and hear it.

“Hello?” Joshua asked, sounding like he’d just woken up, but Jihoon didn’t really have the patience for sympathy. 

“Joshua. Tell this ‘Mingyu’ that I get free coffee.”

“What?” Joshua’s voice was full of surprise. “I--”

He sounded caught off guard, and Jihoon didn’t blame him, but this wasn’t the steadfast defense he’d been looking for. He’d been wanting “Yes, Mingyu. Give him the free coffee, Mingyu. Jihoon is right and you’re wrong, Mingyu.” Instead, Joshua was just floundering a bit. 

“Hi Joshua.” Mingyu said, leaning in towards the phone. People in line behind them--because by now, a considerable line had formed--were all staring. “I have a customer here that’s refusing to pay for his coffee. He’s already asked for Soonyoung.” 

“Oh, okay, I… Hi Mingyu. Um, just--” There was a strange, rustling type of noise, then Joshua came back to the receiver, slightly hushed. “Just buy the coffee for him? Please? I’ll pay you back.”

“...what?” Mingyu asked, and Jihoon couldn’t hold in a grin at the disbelief in Mingyu’s voice. 

“Jihoon, he… He gets free coffee.” Joshua said. “Soonyoung knows about it. I promise I’ll pay you back.” 

“I’m supposed to just buy this for him?” Mingyu asked. 

“Yeah. I’ll tell you about it later, Mingyu.”

“Thanks, Joshua.” Jihoon hung up his phone and pocketed it, and a small, unfairly vindictive part of him enjoyed watching Mingyu pull his wallet out. 

“Sorry for the wait.” Mingyu said when it had all been done, pocketing Jihoon’s receipt and pushing the coffee a little closer towards Jihoon across the counter. Jihoon took it, glancing Mingyu’s way as he put the straw in his mouth and took a quick drink. At least it was still warm. Mingyu was staring at him. 

“It’s fine.” He said. “Just remember my name next time.” 

Walking out felt like a bit of a victory, though it really wasn’t one, Jihoon taking a moment to just sip on his drink, his steps slow as he waited for the caffeine to hit him. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, assuming it was Joshua. It wasn’t, it was just Soonyoung, sending him an appallingly long string of tiger emojis--completely unprovoked, this _had_ to be a hate crime--but the message was forgotten as his eyes caught on the time being displayed on his lock screen. He was late for class. Cursing, Jihoon began walking a little faster, deciding he was blaming this on Kim Mingyu. 

  
  


“And then he--he put the straw in his _mouth,_ and he looked at me--he had to look up at me, because he was so much shorter than me that I actually want to cry a little--and he had this _grin_ on his face and the straw between his _teeth_ he said ‘it’s fine. Just remember my name next time’.” 

Mingyu did look like he actually wanted to cry a little, Seungcheol watching as Minghao raised an eyebrow. 

“And then what? You popped a boner or something?” 

Mingyu didn’t answer, but the sudden avoidance of eye contact and the slight squirming he did in the restaurant booth answered the question for him. Judging by the sharp movement of Minghao’s shoulders and the yelp of pain Mingyu gave a second later, Seungcheol guessed that Minghao had just kicked him under the table.

“You’re gross.” Minghao told him.

“Hey, you asked!” Mingyu whined, reaching down to rub at his shin, and Vernon burst into a laugh. The four of them--Seungcheol, his roommate Mingyu, and their two friends, Minghao and Vernon--were eating dinner at a restaurant. The outing was a bit of a celebration; Minghao had just gotten the results back for a photography contest he’d entered a couple of months ago, where he’d used Mingyu as a model. Seungcheol was not at all surprised that Minghao had won first place--his eye for angles and colors was incredible, something Seungcheol didn’t think he would ever understand--though Mingyu was having the time of his life declaring that he had an award-winning face.

However, since the four of them were broke college students with minimum wage jobs, they were at the small restaurant near campus where they always ate out at, and Minghao was treating them with his prize money, and they were splitting a dessert. But still; it was a celebration anyway, Seungcheol making sure he brought up a toast to Minghao’s success every fifteen minutes or so.

“So?” Vernon asked, bringing his drink up to his mouth. “What’s his name?” 

“I still can’t believe you just bought the coffee for him.” Seungcheol said. 

“Joshua told me to!” Mingyu defended. “And he did pay me back when he came in for his shift. But the name… It’s Lee Jihoon.” 

Vernon choked on a mouthful of Coca-Cola. 

“You said Lee Jihoon?” He asked, once he was able to breathe again. “And he’s short?” 

“...yes?” 

“Dark hair? Kind of like this?” Vernon made a gesture around his head that none of them could decipher, and after a few moments of staring at him, Mingyu pulled his phone out.

“Well, Joshua was telling me a little bit about him, and apparently he’s Soonyoung’s roommate or something, so I looked at Soonyoung’s instagram and Soonyoung is following him. Here’s a picture.” 

After nearly being dropped into his food, Mingyu’s phone made it safely to Vernon’s hands and was passed around the table. It was a cute picture, Seungcheol had to admit, some guy in a black shirt and a ball cap, holding a pretty guitar, the body of the instrument covering his left cheek. 

“That’s Jihoon.” Vernon said.

“Yeah, I know.” Mingyu answered. “I’m the one that told you that.” 

“No, _Jihoon.”_ Vernon said again. “Like… The guy at the radio that I work with? I’ve talked about him before.” 

“Oh.” Minghao seemed to know who Vernon was talking about, but Seungcheol was distracted by the fact that this guy looked familiar to him, too. It wasn’t until Mingyu had gotten his phone back and they were starting to change the subject that Seungcheol remembered. 

“He goes to the gym sometimes.” He said. “I've seen him there once or twice.”

“Is he buff?” Minghao asked. 

“His arms aren’t exactly like mine, but they’re close.” Seungcheol conceded with a nod, and Mingyu let out a bit of a whine and let his whole body slump back against the bench.

Seungcheol was a Physiology major, focused more on exercise and sports medicine, so he knew the faces of just about everyone that went to the campus gym. While he was in his last year at school, he still lived in the dorms, getting free housing for his job as an RA, which he’d held for the past two years. Housing management liked him because he was good at his job, strict enough with the rules without being mean. Mingyu, Minghao, and Vernon liked him because he’d found out how good of a cook Mingyu was, and allowed Mingyu to keep some contraband items that weren’t allowed in student housing--like a portable stove top and a Cutco knife set--in exchange for delicious meals. It was a bit of a gamble, but Mingyu’s food was too good and he hadn’t been found out yet, so he figured it was fine.

“Oh, Seungcheol.” Minghao was grinning a bit, something sly about the smile. “Please take a picture of him next time you see him.” 

“You want me to--to take a picture of him working out?” Seungcheol squawked, once the sentence actually sunk in. “That’s so weird, why?” 

“If Mingyu is this hopeless over watching this guy drink out of a straw, just imagine what he would do for you if you were dangling a sweaty, sleeveless gym photo over his head.” Minghao said, and Vernon burst out laughing again.

“Shut up.” Mingyu mumbled, his face now in his hands.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen him in a sleeveless shirt.” Vernon said, once he’d finished laughing. “He sometimes wears pretty short shorts, though.”

Mingyu whined again. 

“I’m not going to take pictures of people in the gym!” Seungcheol exclaimed, able to feel his ears burning. “That’s creepy.” 

“Maybe it’s less creepy if you ask him first?” Vernon proposed.

“Everything about this scenario is creepy.” Seungcheol said, incredulous. “How is it less creepy to ask?”

“Depends on what you’re asking for.” Came a voice behind them, Seungcheol’s heart leaping in his chest as he turned. He already knew who was there, recognizing the voice, but he wasn’t quite prepared for the grin that was playing on Jeonghan’s lips as he approached their table. He had on the restaurant’s uniform: a white dress shirt, black pants, and a little red apron tied around his waist. His sleeves were rolled up past his elbows, and his nametag was pinned to his shirt. 

“Jeonghan!” Mingyu exclaimed happily. Seungcheol only knew Jeonghan due to how often they frequented the restaurant, but Mingyu knew Jeonghan a little bit better; Jeonghan was also a student, and both he and Mingyu were in the same club or something. 

“I was coming to ask how your meal was going, but this conversation seems much more interesting.” Jeonghan was suddenly sliding into the booth next to Seungcheol, squeezing in to sit down, the entirety of his thigh pressing against Seungcheol’s, his face close. He was even closer when he turned to look at Seungcheol, still smiling. “So, what is it that you’re being a creep about?” 

“Nothing!” Seungcheol exclaimed defensively, and Jeonghan began to giggle.

“Jeonghan…” Mingyu whined, exaggerated as he reached across Seungcheol to touch one of Jeonghan’s hands. “I met an angel today.” 

“An angel? I thought he was rude to you.” Minghao asked, just as Jeonghan said, “I thought I was your angel.” 

“Okay then, an angel with no wings.” Mingyu amended, completely ignoring Minghao’s statement. 

“So like… A person?” Vernon asked. Undeterred, Mingyu told the story of meeting Jihoon again. Jeonghan was very supportive of the whole thing, obviously the audience that Mingyu had wanted for the story, lamenting and exclaiming and wishing that he’d been there to see it all. There was laughter at the end of Mingyu’s story, and Jeonghan did a slight collapse as he laughed, leaning a little bit onto Seungcheol’s shoulder. 

“Don’t you need to work?” Seungcheol asked, the question out of his mouth before he could stop it. Jeonghan was just so close to him, and his skin looked so smooth and his hair looked so soft. Jeonghan glanced at him again, his face a little surprised. 

“I mean, I’d rather be sitting next to you.” He said, a playful lilt to his voice as he bumped his shoulder against Seungcheol’s own. Seungcheol didn’t know what to say, feeling unable to speak for reasons he couldn’t pin down, and at his silence Jeonghan leaned away instead, huffing out a sigh that had his cheeks puffing up. “Besides, Wednesdays are so slow.” 

“You should just come work at the cafe with us!” Mingyu said, easily excited by the idea. “It would be so much fun.” 

“It would be fun, but the tips I get here are what make the work worthwhile.” Jeonghan said, winking at Mingyu as he got to his feet. “So you guys had better leave me a nice one.” 

Then he was gone, whisking himself away as suddenly as he’d arrived, and Seungcheol watched him go. Mingyu, Minghao, and Vernon all rounded on him at once. 

“Your face is so red. It’s been red the whole time.” Mingyu informed him. “I thought that stream was going to come out of your ears.”

Seungcheol’s cheeks burned. 

“I’m not blushing.” He lied, and Vernon laughed again. 

“So what, you’re going into heat stroke?” Minghao asked. “You can have a crush on the cute waiter, Seungcheol. It’s okay. He’s not my type, but I get it.” 

Mingyu and Vernon nodded in agreement, and the support would have felt nice, if Seungcheol had wanted it. Jeonghan’s interactions with him did feel a little bit flirtatious, sure, but part of Jeonghan’s income depended on people liking him; he was probably just a little bit flirtatious with everybody. Seungcheol couldn’t let himself think that he was anyone special. 

“I don’t like him, okay? I don’t.” 

“Yes, you do.” Mingyu said, equal parts gentle and teasing. 

“I don’t!”

It was true. Seungcheol didn’t like Jeonghan. He didn’t like Jeonghan, and felt like he couldn’t, not really, because he didn’t _know_ Jeonghan. 

He thought Jeonghan was pretty, almost too pretty to be an actual person, the angel jokes he’d make a little too plausible for Seungcheol to really laugh at. He knew, from things like captions on his instagram posts, that Jeonghan also only had a year of school left, and that he was an Advertising major, and that he rented an apartment with Mingyu’s coworker Joshua. 

But he didn’t know Jeonghan’s favorite song, or whether or not he was a morning person, or if he preferred cats to dogs. He didn’t know any of Jeonghan’s hobbies or interests, aside from him being on the university’s tennis team. He didn’t know anything about what made Jeonghan who he was, so he couldn’t say he really liked Jeonghan past thinking he was handsome, despite Mingyu’s reassurances that he was a nice person. 

“I support you.” Minghao was still teasing, but Minghao was in a good mood from his contest win and was feeling a bit tipsy, so Seungcheol figured the good natured jabs were to be expected, at least a little. “And hey, just say the word and I’ll grab you a handful of condoms from the health services desk. Those things are free.”

“Can we go back to making fun of Mingyu?” Seungcheol asked weakly. Seungcheol wanted to learn all of those things about Jeonghan, but they’d never once crossed paths on campus, and it felt wrong and almost a little predatory to try talking to Jeonghan while he was working, or to even ask for his number while he was working so they could talk some other time. So Seungcheol just tried his best not to stare, and left tips that often totaled to the entire amount of cash he had in his wallet at the time. 

And tonight was no different when Minghao declared the meal over, Seungcheol pulling his wallet out of his back pocket as they all got to their feet. Minghao swatted at his hands, insisting that he was paying and pulling out his debit card. And Seungcheol let him pay for the meal, but he swiped the pen from the check holder, hanging back for just a moment as his friends began walking towards the door, grabbing an unused napkin from the middle of the table. 

He had a hard time thinking of what to write, not wanting to embarrass himself too much, finally scribbling out _I hope your slow Wednesday ends well_ and folding the napkin in half, sticking the bills inside of it so they stuck out both ends. Then he hurried to catch up with his friends, Jeonghan calling out a farewell and waving cheerily to them as they walked out into the night. 

Minghao had an arm slung around Vernon’s neck, a happy smile on his face as he declared loudly that he was an artist. Thankfully, they had gone back to teasing Mingyu, who was despairing about the lack of selfies on Lee Jihoon’s instagram, wondering if he should follow him or not, asking them all if they thought Jihoon would follow him back, and if the selfies he’d posted were hot enough. 

“I’m sure he’ll follow you back.” Vernon said kindly, while Minghao snorted. 

“Mingyu, there’s a picture of you on there in your leather pants. Either he’ll follow you back, or he’s straight.” 

“Oh no. Vernon, is he?” Mingyu turned to Vernon in despair, Seungcheol unable not to laugh at the expression on his face. It looked like Mingyu hadn’t once considered that to be a possibility. 

“I don’t know.” Vernon shrugged. “He doesn’t really talk about stuff like that.” 

“Wait, there are pictures of me with Chaeyeon on here!” Mingyu’s despair only seemed to grow, though Seungcheol knew that Mingyu also had a tendency to lean towards dramatics, so he wasn’t that worried about him actually being upset. “What if he thinks I’m straight?”

“Mingyu.” Minghao’s voice was flat now. “There’s a picture of you on there in your leather pants.”

Those words nearly knocked Seungcheol out, still giggling a bit as they entered their dorm, he and Mingyu parting ways with Vernon and Minghao to go to their respective rooms. Mingyu was still lamenting about instagram as he flopped onto his bed, Seungcheol doing the same and opening the app up on his phone. The first photo across his feed surprised him: it was the note he’d written, Jeonghan’s pretty fingertips at the bottom of the frame to hold the napkin flat against the wood of the restaurant table. The caption was simple but cute, a response to Seungcheol’s wish for his Wednesday to end well. 

_1004_yjh: it did, because of you._

Seungcheol liked the post, not noticing how widely he was smiling until he felt a slight ache in his cheeks. He tapped on Jeonghan’s profile and just scrolled a bit, pausing whenever a picture came up with Jeonghan’s face in it. He would deny it to his friends until he was blue in the face, but he knew that he really was gone for Jeonghan. It just felt dumb to admit, because he’d never had a real conversation with Jeonghan before. He wanted to though, so badly that it hurt. 

“What’re you doing over there?” Mingyu asked, glancing over at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’re smiling.” 

“Oh, nothing.” Seungcheol said quickly, backing out of Jeonghan’s profile, feeling flustered. Then, when he realized that Mingyu did not and would not believe him, lied a little. “My brother sent me a text.” 

Mingyu’s eyes went wide, the horror on his face comical as he jumped off his bed and pulled Seungcheol’s phone from his hand. 

“Hey! What--?” 

“Oh good, you’re just on instagram.” Mingyu let out a breath, scrolling around a little before giving Seungcheol his phone back. 

“What the hell?” Seungcheol asked, after staring at Mingyu for a moment. 

“It’s just, if you ever smiled like that at anything your brother did, I would have to call the cops on you. You know, legally.”

Seungcheol decided to kick him. 

“It wasn’t a bad smile!” Mingyu insisted. “Just like… You know, fond. Softly horny.” 

Seungcheol didn’t know what that meant, but decided to kick Mingyu again. Mingyu danced away from him, giggling, so Seungcheol had to go after him to do it, but the room was small and Mingyu was clumsy. When Seungcheol made it back to his phone, he had a new notification. 

Jeonghan had liked one of his posts. It wasn’t one of his more recent ones, either; he would have had to scroll to get to it, but it was one that only had his face in it, making a bit of a dumb expression with a bit of a cheesy caption. A moment later, a comment appeared. 

_1004_yjh: cute_

“What are you blushing about?” Mingyu asked, his voice heavily accusatory, probably because he was still lying on the floor. Seungcheol threw his pillow at him. 

  
  


Seungkwan didn't like Thursdays. There were some good things about it: he was done with classes by three in the afternoon, and it was the day that he and Seokmin ordered themselves food instead of trying to make themselves cook, and Friday was just around the corner, but still. He had classes at eight in the morning on Thursdays, and most of the evaluations in his vocal performance class were on Thursdays, and all of it was stressful. He and Seokmin usually stayed up late to prepare for the evaluations--though usually the late nights were more from nervousness than from a need to actually work on anything--and between the staying up late and the getting up early, Seungkwan usually needed to pick up coffee on his way to the Liberal Arts building, or he would face plant into his desk and doze during his Philosophy class. 

Seokmin was a morning person, and Seungkwan had grown accustomed to his roommate waking him up in the mornings, either on purpose or on accident with how loud he could be while getting ready for class. He'd grown accustomed to not bothering to set an alarm on his phone, knowing Seokmin would have him up with enough time to get ready. But Seokmin had overslept, and as a result Seungkwan had too, and now they were both scrambling around in desperation. 

"Hurry up!" Seungkwan shouted. He had managed to get himself out the door first, and was holding it open for Seokmin to follow. "Hurry, or I'm leaving you!" 

For show, he let the door go, and it started to fall closed. His eyes caught on a neon orange square stuck to the outside of the door and he snatched at it, letting out a curse. One more thing to make Thursday better. 

It was a sticky note, but Seungkwan already knew that. He was sure, too, that he would know what it would say. The writing on it was messy, made with thick marker lines. 

_SOME PEOPLE USE WEDNESDAY NIGHTS TO SLEEP. I wrote a note to your RA. This is too much. (P.S. don’t try to sing an Orange Caramel song if you don’t have three people. Raina’s voice is better than yours and you sound sloppy.)_

"Sloppy?!" Seungkwan couldn't help the disbelieving exclamation. "I'll show you sloppy, you won't even--"

The door burst open, Seokmin shouting his name and desperately trying to button his pants at the same time. Thankfully, the door hit Seungkwan in the shoe and not in the face, but it still nearly knocked him on his ass, and he stumbled backwards into the hallway wall. 

"You didn't leave!" Seokmin exclaimed, looking relieved, as though Seungkwan going to his first class without Seokmin would be a devastation he would never recover from. Even though they sat next to each other in that class, and shared a dorm room, and always ate dinner together. Then he noticed Seungkwan had something in his hand. "What's that?" 

"Oh, nothing. We were just loud again." Seungkwan stuffed the note in his pocket. "Come on, we need to go!" 

Seungkwan was on a mission. He was trying to find out who this note-leaver was. At first, it hadn't been a problem; Seungkwan had actually felt bad about it, apologizing to his neighbors and the other people on the floor of the dorm they lived in for him and Seokmin singing too loudly too late into the night. But all of his apologies had been waved off, people telling him that they didn't mind or that the singing didn't bother them, a couple people even saying that they actually liked and appreciated he and Seokmin's voices.

The next note, however, had been a bit rude. And yes, they'd been awake and playing music until nearly four on a Wednesday morning, but the songs had all been ballads, and they'd only been up so late because Seokmin was nervous about the song he had to sing in front of their class and their professor. Their note leaver had said something about Seokmin not sounding good, and it had sent Seokmin into a pit of self-consciousness for two full weeks, and that was when Seungkwan had decided to go on the offensive. Nobody was allowed to come for his friend like that. 

His first assumption was that someone on their floor had lied to his face. He went to every room on their dorm floor individually, interrogating all of them. Not a single person admitted to writing the notes, so he asked permission to dig through their desk drawers. Only a handful of people on their floor even had orange sticky notes and for the ones that did, none of the handwriting matched. He’d hit a bit of a wall for now, but he was still determined. Every note he got plagued him, but he hoped that eventually the note-leaver would say something too revealing, and he would be able to discover their identity. The sticky note person was his sworn enemy, and Seungkwan was determined to catch the culprit before the semester was up. 

Class was grueling, and despite nearly being late to Philosophy because he waited in line for his coffee, he ended up falling asleep in class anyway. But when Philosophy was over, classes for the day were over, Seungkwan waiting for Seokmin to return to their room so they could work on homework together. When it had been nearly an hour since Seokmin's last class had let out and he still wasn't back, Seungkwan decided to give him a call. He answered on the second ring.

"Hey."

"Hi, and also where are you?" Seungkwan asked. "I want to work on homework, and get some food."

There wasn't an invitation anywhere in there, but there was always an invitation for Seokmin when Seungkwan had plans. Seokmin didn't end up answering though, a different voice coming across the line.

"Seungkwan!" Seungkwan should have figured that Seokmin was with Jeonghan. "Do you want to come over? I could help you with your work."

"Okay, sure." Jeonghan was a college senior that Seokmin had inexplicably become very close with after running into him once outside the Athletic Center. Seungkwan liked Jeonghan fine, and loved going to Jeonghan's apartment--Jeonghan's roommate Joshua had put a lot of time and care into making the place look nice--but he didn't like having to walk past the frat houses by himself to get there. When he arrived, backpack on and books in hand, he found his friends on the couch, Jeonghan’s head on Seokmin’s shoulder.

“Everything alright?” Seungkwan asked, taking off his shoes and setting his things down. Jeonghan gave a little shrug, holding out an arm to him, and Seungkwan walked over so Jeonghan could take his hand, giving it a little squeeze before letting him go. 

“He said he was lonely, so I came over.” Seokmin explained. Jeonghan was a little clingy, Seungkwan thought, but Seungkwan knew that he himself was clingy too, so he couldn’t really fault Jeonghan for that. 

“You can help yourself to anything in the kitchen.” Jeonghan said. “Even Joshua’s stuff. He went to work and left me all alone.”

Seungkwan laughed at that, setting his books out on Jeonghan’s coffee table. Jeonghan did help them and talked with them, but he was quieter than usual, and Seungkwan couldn’t help but ask about it. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Ah, you’re sweet.” Jeonghan told him, before letting out a sigh. “I’m fine, really, I just… I have practice later, and I don’t really want to go.” 

Jeonghan was an all-court player on the university’s tennis team, and had always talked about the sport and practices with fondness until recently. Until a new player had joined the team. 

“Is that guy bothering you again?” Seokmin asked, an angry edge to his voice that Seungkwan had only heard a handful of times over the course of being Seokmin’s friend. 

“Not… I mean, not really. Not any more than usual.” Jeonghan laid his head on Seokmin’s shoulder again. “He hasn’t done anything, but he keeps saying that he will.” 

This new guy was good, very skilled at the sport. He had also, for some reason, taken a particular interest in Jeonghan. It didn’t matter that Jeonghan rejected his advances; he claimed he was going to get into Jeonghan’s pants “no matter what”, a threat that Seungkwan didn’t think Jeonghan was taking seriously enough. 

“Oh come on, I don’t want you guys to worry about him.” Jeonghan said, sitting up straight and hitting Seokmin’s arm with his fingertips in an attempt to lighten the mood. “He’s too much of a coward to touch me. And I already told you; if he tries something, I’ll speak up.” 

“You shouldn’t wait for something bad to happen to speak up, though.” Seungkwan said. “Can’t you talk to the coach?” 

“I don’t want to make the coach choose between him or me.” Jeonghan said. “If it somehow came to that, I… I don’t know, I’d probably quit. I might just quit anyway.” 

“You can’t quit!” Seokmin exclaimed. “You like tennis. You can’t let that idiot win.” 

“But, Seokmin--”

“Promise me you won’t quit.” Seokmin’s face was too serious to let the issue go, and Jeonghan must have understood that, because a moment later he let out another sigh. 

“Fine. I won’t quit.”

“The school has a zero tolerance policy on harassment.” Seungkwan said. “Even if it’s between two male students. I’ll see if there’s something I can do, okay?” 

“Okay.” Jeonghan said, though it did look a bit like he was agreeing just for the sake of dropping the subject. Seungkwan wasn’t going to forget the matter, though; as the head, organizer, and spokesperson for the university’s Pride Club, he had written to the school board before about issues he’d come across, and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. 

The front door opened, Joshua coming in, kicking his shoes off before letting out a long groan, walking straight to the couch and flopping directly on Jeonghan. Jeonghan whined under the extra weight, shoving at him, and before long Joshua was lying on the floor. He didn’t seem to mind though, just rolling onto his back.

“...long day at work?” Seokmin asked after a moment, and Seungkwan and Jeonghan both laughed. 

“Hello, people that do not live here.” He said, Seokmin giving a wave while Seungkwan protested.

“We were invited!” 

“Was work alright?” Jeonghan asked Joshua, and Joshua puffed his cheeks up, letting the breath out slowly. 

“It was fine, really. It was just me and Mingyu for most of my shift, and Mingyu, like… He physically cannot stop talking about this guy he has a crush on. It was a lot for six whole hours.”

Jeonghan laughed a little, reaching down to give Joshua a sympathetic pat on the stomach. 

“Oh, Mingyu likes someone?” Seungkwan asked in interest. He wasn’t particularly close with Mingyu, but liked him a lot; Mingyu was a very active member in the Pride Club. He had excellent ideas for events and poster designs, and was always eager to help out. Seungkwan also knew that Mingyu was both double majoring and double minoring, and between his schoolwork, his extracurriculars, and his job, Seungkwan really had no idea how Mingyu wasn’t dead yet. 

“Yeah. You should text him. He would love to tell you all about it.” Still laying on the floor, Joshua stretched his arms up over his head. “I never actually found out who the guy was, though. Mingyu was too busy about being upset that he was straight.”

“Oh, poor Mingyu.” 

“Yeah. Something about the guy not following him back on instagram.” 

There seemed to be something wrong with the word “instagram”; Seokmin shot Joshua a look, and Jeonghan let out a long-suffering groan and let his upper body fall across the arm of the couch. 

“What?” Joshua asked. Jeonghan responded, the words so muffled by the cushion on the couch armrest that it was completely indecipherable, and it made Joshua start laughing as he asked the question again. “What happened?” 

Jeonghan sat up, pulled out his phone, and scrolled on it for a moment before handing it over. Seungkwan leaned in so he could see too, met with a picture of some guy he didn’t know, the username _coups_cheol_ an unfamiliar one. It was a selfie taken in a mirror, and the guy had dark hair and full lips, his face half covered up by his phone screen. The university gym was behind him, and he was in a tank top, the thin white shirt stuck to his skin with sweat. Joshua let out a loud laugh and double tapped the photo, a heart appearing over it. Seungkwan gasped.

“What? What did you do?” Jeonghan asked, Joshua rolling away from him on the floor, Jeonghan’s phone still in his hands. 

“You hadn’t done it yet, so I liked the picture for you! I’ll leave a comment too--do you want to call him ‘sir’, or ‘daddy’?” 

Jeonghan yelled a curse, jumping off the couch to pounce on Joshua. It was the fastest Seungkwan had ever seen Jeonghan move in his life, just getting out of the way to watch as they rolled across the floor, Joshua giggling wildly and Jeonghan detailing exactly what it was he was going to do when Joshua’s insides became his outsides. Before long Joshua relented, Jeonghan getting his phone back and sitting next to Seokmin on the couch again. 

“So, who is that guy?” Seungkwan asked. “Do you guys know him?” 

“He’s Mingyu’s roommate.” Joshua explained. “I’ve never talked to him, actually, but…” 

But Jeonghan liked him, Seungkwan assumed. Joshua gestured to Jeonghan, who let out another sigh. 

“He was at the restaurant with his friends last night. He always smiles so much when he’s with his friends. He’s so…”

“Cute?” Seokmin offered. Seungkwan had an idea that the sweet word wasn’t exactly the one that Jeonghan had in mind, with the way he was leaning back against the couch, his eyes closed. 

“If his smile makes you feel like that, imagine what his dick could do.” Joshua said, Seungkwan yelping, Seokmin laughing, Jeonghan throwing a couch cushion at Joshua’s face.

“I’m going to put spiders in your bed.” Jeonghan told him, and Joshua just got to his feet, still laughing, going to the apartment’s little kitchen in search of food. 

“Why don’t you ask him out?” Seokmin asked, and Jeonghan replaced his head on Seokmin’s shoulder. 

“He doesn’t like me.” 

“Yes he does!” Joshua called from the kitchen.

“No he doesn’t!” Jeonghan called back. “I pretty much put myself in his lap yesterday, and he just told me to get back to work.” 

“Okay, but then he left you a thirty dollar tip, _in cash,_ with a cute note.” Joshua countered. “It’s the perfect gift for you. It’s like he knows you’re a materialistic sentimentalist.” 

“Hey Shua, remember how I said I was putting spiders in your bed?” Jeonghan said, and Joshua just laughed again. “He leaves me notes, but none of them have ever had his phone number on them. We only follow each other on instagram because of Mingyu, and he’s never sent me a private message. He’s never given me his number. He’s not interested.”

“I still think he would say yes, if you asked him out.” Joshua said, but Jeonghan ignored him. Conversation drifted and Seungkwan refocused, finishing up his Statistics homework. He was getting ready to suggest going home--or, at least, getting some dinner--when Joshua took his head out of the refrigerator and peeked into the living room. 

“I had pudding in here. Did someone eat it?”

“I gave it to Seokmin.” Jeonghan said. “He deserved it because he came over to hang out with me after you went to work and left me all alone.”

Seokmin was wearing a rather sheepish grin. “If it makes you feel any better, it was really good.” He said. 

“You know, shockingly, that makes me feel worse.” Joshua answered. “Han, if I help you make more friends, will you stop letting the friends you do have eat my food every time I go to work?” 

“Maybe.” Jeonghan answered begrudgingly. “No promises.”

“Why don’t you come to the next Pride Club meeting?” Seokmin asked. “You’ve been to them before, and you don’t have to be a member to come. Me, Seungkwan, Joshua, and Mingyu will all be there.”

“I have work.” Jeonghan said. 

“I’ll try to bring him to the one after.” Joshua promised. Then, at Jeonghan’s unsure look, “Come on Jeonghan, it’ll be fun.” 

“Fine!” Jeonghan heaved himself to his feet. He sounded a bit reluctant, but Seungkwan knew that it was actually impossible to get Jeonghan to do anything he didn’t want to do, so he wasn’t too worried about Jeonghan feeling forced. “Fine. I’ll go. I’ve got to get ready for practice, though.” 

Seungkwan and Seokmin stayed in Jeonghan and Joshua’s apartment until it was time for Jeonghan to go to practice, the two of them walking with him to the Athletic Center. Seokmin watched him enter the building, worry on his face. 

“That guy had better not do anything to Jeonghan.” He said. “Or else.” 

Seungkwan put a sympathetic hand on Seokmin’s shoulder. “You really aren’t that threatening, you know.” 

“I know. But you’re my best friend.” Seokmin put his hand on Seungkwan’s shoulder in return, their arms overlapping each other. “You’ll just drop kick him for me, right?” 

That had Seungkwan laughing, and they went to get some dinner together. Seungkwan ended up speeding the meal along, wanting to get back to their dorm room in time to tune in to Chilli Sauce, and Seokmin didn’t complain. 

Seungkwan couldn’t explain why he liked the radio show so much, but he knew it wasn’t really for the music, so it had to be the host. He’d never met Vernon, and had only ever seen one picture of Vernon’s face on the Twitter page for the university’s radio, but Seungkwan loved talking to him. It was easy to talk to Vernon. It felt good to talk to Vernon. 

It was nice to just listen to Vernon too, and with how long the day had been, that was all Seungkwan was really in the mood for, not even trying to call in when it was the time on the show where Vernon asked for input from listeners. Seungkwan listened to a girl talk about how she did well on an exam, a smile in Vernon’s voice when he congratulated her, and the show was just about over. 

“Now… This was a little embarrassing.” Vernon said. “A friend of mine was talking about this song earlier today, and it got stuck in my head, so I’m going to play it. It’s a little different from the stuff I usually play on here. And there’s someone that always listens in that once told me this group is his favorite, so consider this dedicated to you, okay?” 

Then Wonder Girls’s _Tell Me_ began to play, and Seungkwan felt his mouth drop open. He told himself that the song wasn’t being dedicated to him, but he did know that he’d told Vernon once or twice when calling in to the show that Wonder Girls were his favorite group, and with how much he loved this song--he’d dressed up as Wonder Woman for Halloween when he was ten because of this song’s music video--all of it felt like a bit too much of a coincidence to ignore. 

Seungkwan listened to the upbeat song, full of lyrics about the excitement of a new love, and couldn’t help but smile, feeling his own heart beat a bit faster in his chest. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was sitting here thinking about verkwan to myself (as i often do) and was like "aw shucks i wish i had some cute verkwan to post that would be nice" and then i was like "anna you are a dumbass you have an entire multichap" so here's ch 2!!! 
> 
> additional warning in this chapter for very brief homophobia and a small instance of sexual assault, both of which are shut down immediately. also joshua says "dick" twice. so that's also a thing.

“Sir! Sir, excuse me.” 

It was a Saturday, and it was already rather late in the morning, but Vernon had woken up roughly twenty minutes ago, and really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone yet. He’d seen the man currently trying to get his attention when he’d started walking up, and had hoped that the earbuds in his ears and the avoidance of eye contact would be enough to let him just walk by without being ensnared in some kind of conversation. There were always activists on campus; the Science building was notorious for having some eco-friendly organization set up outside every week, trying to give out flyers, while the intersection between Vernon’s dorm and the nearest dining hall sometimes had some religious group hanging around it.

This guy looked like some kind of religious zealot, but the fact that it was just him alone without some organization behind him was a bad sign. Vernon didn’t mind people being different, and was even interested when he found himself in a conversation with someone about their beliefs, but he was more in the mood for a cup of coffee than a faith conversion attempt. He found himself unable to get away though, because the man reached out and grabbed his arm. 

“Sorry?” Vernon asked, pulling an earbud out of his ear.

“I just wanted to inform you; did you know that you’re going to hell?”

“...excuse me?” The words were so bizarre, and said so politely, that Vernon thought he must have misheard the man. But then the guy pointed to the jean jacket Vernon had on, and Vernon realized what was happening. He had a lot of buttons and pins on his jacket, most of them gifts from his little sister, and sandwiched between a peace sign button and an enamel pin in the shape of a turtle was a pin that said “certified bi disaster” on it, colored pink, purple, and blue. Vernon genuinely had no idea what to say. 

“If you continue down the path you’re on, Christ won’t claim you when the reckoning comes.” The man told him, and yeah, this guy was officially crazy, and Vernon needed him to let go of his arm. 

“I’m sorry, I really don’t want--” Vernon started, trying to tug his arm away, but the man wasn’t interested. He just kept talking, and all of it seemed to center around Vernon being sent to be tortured for all eternity, when someone else jumped in and also grabbed Vernon by the arm. 

“Matthew 22:39. Love thy neighbor, you  _ dick.”  _

The tug was harsh, but it was enough for the religious man to let go of him, and Vernon looked up to see a young man around his age, with dark hair and round eyes that were narrowed in anger. The religious man looked taken aback for just a moment before he responded, and before long the two were arguing with each other, Vernon not sure what to do as he watched them. The guy that had come to Vernon’s rescue seemed like he’d been in an argument like this before, very concise and articulate, all of his counterarguments well-organized, and he didn’t let the fight drag; when the other man paused to take a breath, the stranger turned away, Vernon’s arm still in his hand, and they began to walk off. 

“Uh… Thanks.” Vernon finally said, and the guy let out a long breath, giving Vernon a tight, stressed smile as he let him go. “You didn’t need to do that. I appreciate it, though.” 

“No, I needed to do that. Can’t just let people go around saying that stuff, especially to people that definitely didn’t ask for it.” He seemed to be relaxing, and for that Vernon was glad. “Are you alright? I saw that he was grabbing you. Sorry for, uh, also grabbing you though.” 

“It’s okay. And I’m Vernon, by the way.” 

“Hi Vernon, I’m Joshua.” Joshua glanced away, pulling his phone out of his pocket before letting out a sigh. “I am also late for work.” 

“Where do you work?” Vernon asked. “I’ll vouch for you.”

“It’s okay. I don’t want to keep you from wherever you’re going.” Joshua told him, typing something out on his phone. Vernon didn’t want this guy to get into any trouble, though. 

“No, really. I was just getting coffee, it really wasn’t important.” Vernon realized that they were now just a block away from the cafe that Vernon had been trying to get to before being accosted. “I was coming here, actually.”

“Oh!” Joshua smiled at him. “Well, I work here, so that’s perfect.” 

They walked through the door together, the jingle of a bell announcing their arrival, followed almost immediately by a loud shout.

“Joshi!” The shout was made by an employee behind the counter, dressed in a barista apron, the smile on his face so wide that his cheeks nearly squeezed his eyes closed, and Joshua instantly began smiling back. “You’re late! Hurry up and get an apron on.” 

“It was my fault!” Vernon jumped in quickly, while Joshua tried to wave him off. 

“It was not your fault.” 

The employee--his name tag said ‘Soonyoung’, Vernon vaguely remembering that to be the name of one of Mingyu’s coworkers--glanced hesitantly between them.

“...who are you?” He finally asked Vernon. 

“I--oh, sorry, right. I’m…” Joshua was going into the back, and Soonyoung was following him, and after a moment, Soonyoung waved at Vernon, so he went too. 

“He was just walking, and a homophobic asshole stopped him.” Joshua said, his voice a bit angry again, getting a little worked up again, the curse hushed despite now being away from any potential customers, and he slipped a brown apron over his head, Soonyoung stepping back automatically to tie it around his waist for him. “Tried to tell him that he was going to hell for sucking dick. And I got into a bit of an argument with the guy.” 

“It was amazing.” Vernon said, because it had been; Joshua had known exactly how to dispute anything the man brought up, and had even given lines and bible quotes to back up what he was saying. His hands on Joshua’s waist, Soonyoung craned his head around to look at Joshua, and he had such wonder and admiration on his face that Vernon almost laughed. 

“I don’t know what’s more incredible right now: how awful your language is, the fact that you just said ‘dick’, or the fact that you got into a fight.” He said, and Joshua went pink all the way up his ears and all the way down his chest, his face breaking out into a self-conscious smile, hiding his mouth behind his hand. 

“I… Yeah.” Joshua looked flustered and Soonyoung went a bit pink too, and he let Joshua go as he stepped away. “People trying to use religion to be hateful is kind of one of those things that I get really angry about, I guess. Sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize! Fuck that guy.” Soonyoung agreed, and Vernon’s eyes caught on the mid-lobe piercing Joshua had in his left ear, filled with a cross earring, and things made a little more sense. “Wait, going to hell for sucking dick before marriage, or for sucking dick while having one?”

“The second one.” Joshua clarified, and Soonyoung raised his eyebrows.

“Well, I guess I’m already going down too then. I’ll see you guys there and we’ll have some fun!”

Vernon burst out laughing, Joshua went from pink to red, and a loud laugh sounded from around the corner. A second later Mingyu stepped in, wearing oven mitts and holding a tray of fresh chocolate chip cookies. His smile got a bit brighter when he noticed Vernon in the back with them.

“Oh, hi Vernon!” He said. “What are you doing here?” 

“How do you know everybody?” Soonyoung asked Mingyu. 

“Come on, I don’t know everybody. Vernon is Minghao’s roommate; he’s my friend.” Mingyu was busying himself with the cookies, taking them off of the baking sheet and onto a display plate. He put one carefully on a napkin before handing it to Vernon, and Soonyoung let out a bit of a sigh. 

“Please don’t make me enforce the rules, Mingyu. You really need to stop giving away cookies.” 

“Hey, he went through a traumatic experience just now.” Joshua protested. “He deserves a free cookie.” 

“I’ll pay for it.” Vernon promised quickly, taking a bite. The cookie was perfect, gooey and sugary and warm, and he sent a thumbs up Mingyu’s way, who beamed at him. “I wanted to get a coffee, anyway.” 

“I’m surprised a speaker like that was allowed on campus.” Joshua said. “I’ll bring it up at the next Pride Club meeting. The university is supposed to have a zero tolerance policy on hate speech and stuff.” 

“Pride Club?” Soonyoung echoed. 

“The LGBT club on campus.” Joshua explained. He gestured in Mingyu’s direction with his thumb. “Mingyu and I are members.”

“How did I not know? Can I join?” Soonyoung asked, looking excited, and for some reason Joshua was blushing again. 

“I… Sure! The next meeting is next week; I’ll text you the details.” 

“Hey, what kind of coffee did you want?” Mingyu asked Vernon, a cup already in his hand. Vernon got his coffee and, after exchanging numbers with Joshua and promising to plan a hang out, Vernon left. While Joshua’s concern and promise of activism was touching, nothing too seriously bad had happened, so the altercation with the religious guy didn’t really bother Vernon much. By the time Monday rolled around he’d more or less forgotten about it, walking into the radio station to see Jihoon grinning at him.

“...what?” He had to ask. The expression looked a little notorious, honestly. 

“I found him.” Jihoon reported, and Vernon had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. 

“Who?” 

“Your boy. The guy you’ve been dedicating songs to.” Jihoon showed Vernon his phone screen, an instagram profile pulled up. “Seungkwan.” 

It was almost cruel, how Vernon had to go on the air instead of being allowed to scroll through Seungkwan’s instagram. Jihoon realized very quickly how valuable the information was, and decided to withhold it, just to cackle at Vernon. 

After pleading a little and agreeing to play Bruno Mars for him--he also might have lost a bit of Chan’s respect, but he was okay with that--Vernon got Seungkwan’s instagram handle from Jihoon. For some reason, the username  _ tangerine_boos _ was vaguely familiar, but he didn’t have enough time while on the air to look into it. 

“How did you find him?” Chan asked with interest, as they left the radio station. Jihoon shrugged. 

“Some guy followed me on instagram last week, and I was scrolling around on his account, and saw the username. I wasn’t sure at first, but then I saw that he made a post about Wonder Girls’s  _ Tell Me  _ on the same day that you played it on the radio. It’s like he knew you played the song for him.” 

The logic wasn’t the most solid, but Vernon didn’t care, still stuck on the first sentence. 

“Someone followed you last week? Was it Mingyu?”

Jihoon’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe.” He answered cagily, which was even more obvious than a flat out “yes” would have been.

“He’s devastated that you didn’t follow him back.” Vernon said. 

“You know Mingyu?” 

“Yeah. He’s my friend. But right now he looks like a kicked puppy. It’s really sad.” 

“Well your friend, apparently, is friends with Seungkwan and didn’t tell you.” Jihoon said, his eyebrows raised. And that--that was an incredibly fair point, Vernon had to admit. “Take that up with him before bothering me.”

Vernon decided to bury his phone all the way at the bottom of his backpack on his way home, because the temptation to scroll through Seungkwan’s instagram was too strong, and he didn’t want to look at his phone while walking home and end up running into a tree, or something. He was just so, so incredibly curious to see what Seungkwan looked like. 

Minghao was there when Vernon got to his room, lying flat on his back on Vernon’s bed, doing something on his phone. Vernon flopped down next to him, pulling his phone out too, and Minghao scooted close, so close that Vernon just slipped an arm under Minghao’s head to let Minghao rest on his shoulder. 

“What are you doing?” Vernon asked him. Minghao had his phone in his hands, a photo editing app open.

“I have a new project.” Minghao explained. “So I need a new model.”

“You don’t want to use Mingyu again?” Vernon asked, and Minghao shrugged.

“I’m too used to his face.” He said. “I want something new.”

Vernon looked at Minghao’s phone screen, watching as Minghao opened instagram, and uploaded a photo. It was just a white square with words on it, and Vernon choked out a laugh. 

_ Needed: model for photography project. m4m. must be sexy. dm for details. _

“Must be sexy?” Vernon read aloud. “No one is going to respond to that!” 

Minghao just shrugged. “What are you doing?” He asked Vernon in return, and Vernon unlocked his own phone. 

“Jihoon found Seungkwan’s instagram. You know, that guy that calls in to the radio show sometimes.”

“Oh.” Minghao’s eyes were big with interest. “Is he cute?” 

“I don’t know.” Vernon said, finally unlocking his phone. “I haven’t been able to look yet.”

Seungkwan… Seungkwan was cute. It was ridiculous, honestly, how cute Seungkwan was. His hair was dyed a light honey color, his eyes round and dark, high cheeks drawing in to pink lips that held a natural pout. 

“Oh, wow.” Minghao said.

“What?”

“Nothing, just… If we were in public right now, I’d tell you to stop staring.” Minghao told him, redirecting his attention to his own phone screen. “Put your tongue back in your mouth.” 

“I’m not--my tongue’s not--” It took Vernon too long to realize that Minghao was teasing him, a definite sign that he was distracted, and he landed a light punch on Minghao’s arm when he realized it. 

Sure enough, Mingyu did know Seungkwan; he was in a good amount of Seungkwan’s posts and videos, Vernon figuring out through captions that they were in a club together. He also found out through captions what Seungkwan was the same age as him, that Seungkwan loved coffee, and that his sister owned one of the fluffiest little white dogs Vernon had ever seen, and that the pictures Seungkwan took with the dog were precious. There was one picture that was just too cute to scroll past, Vernon deciding to like it, and Minghao made a strangled, squawking sort of noise next to him.

“What?” Vernon asked again. 

“Did you just--you just--” Minghao seemed in disbelief. “Vernon, that picture is nearly a year old. You just liked a post from fifty weeks ago.” 

“...so?” 

“I don’t know if you’re brave or insane.” Minghao told him, after another moment of staring. “You might be both.” 

“I thought it was a cute picture!” Vernon defended. “So I liked it. That’s all.” 

“Yeah, I know.” Minghao said. “Except now he knows it too.” 

Vernon couldn’t help but wonder if that was necessarily a bad thing.

  
  


Jihoon was a man who kept his promises. He’d promised Wonwoo he’d leave the apartment to work on his composition if he didn’t get any inspiration. And, frustratingly, he hadn’t gotten any inspiration. So, as promised, he was leaving the apartment. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t curse Wonwoo’s name the entire way down the stairs and across the street. 

He’d decided to go to the cafe to try and work on the song. It was a place that was relatively quiet, but still loud enough to give some ambiance, some background noise, and some cover if he decided to hum to himself, or snap, or sing under his breath. Plus, he got free coffee there, and he already knew that Soonyoung wasn’t working today, so it was the one place on campus Soonyoung wouldn’t randomly show up to bother him, so really it was a pretty good spot on all counts. 

He slipped inside, finding a relatively secluded table and sitting down. All he was working with were his notebook and a keyboard app on his phone, earbuds in. He had tried to write the lyrics first, hoping they would have a sort of a rhythm to them, a mood to them that would help him pick up what key to use and how the chorus should flow. But the prompt for this submission had been something cute, a love song with a summer feel, and that was as far from Jihoon’s current mood as possible, so he’d decided that he should try to put an instrumental together first. He had a lead-in that he liked, but couldn’t figure out which direction the music should go, listening to the first sixteen counts on repeat. He was about to decide that no, he hated this too, when a napkin was slid onto his notebook, a large chocolate chip cookie resting on it. 

Jihoon looked up, and was met with the sight of Mingyu, all dressed up in his barista outfit, standing over him and smiling. Jihoon had become well acquainted with Mingyu’s face over the weekend--the amount of time he’d spent scrolling through Mingyu’s instagram was something he would not admit, not even to himself--but had Mingyu been this tall last time Jihoon had seen him? Jihoon looked between Mingyu and the cookie for a moment, pulling one of his earbuds out of his ears. 

“It’s for you.” Mingyu explained, and Jihoon raised an eyebrow. 

“I thought you didn’t like giving me free stuff.” He said, and had to hold in a grin when Mingyu went pink. 

“Hey now,” Mingyu said, a light smile on his face. “I also said you also looked exactly like the kind of guy I would love to give free coffee to, Jihoon.”

_ Jihoon. _ Mingyu had remembered his name. Jihoon couldn’t help a small grin curling his lips, feeling it happen before he realized it, and Mingyu absolutely beamed. Jihoon tried to remember the annoyed feeling he’d had last week, but it was hard when Mingyu was this handsome, and smiling at him, and giving him a free cookie. 

“I thought you couldn’t give these away anymore.” Jihoon said, but Mingyu just shrugged. 

“I bought five at the beginning of my shift, so I can hand them out without getting in trouble.” 

“Oh. Okay then.” Jihoon picked the cookie up and took a bite. It was still warm, sugary and soft. “This, um. It’s really good. Thanks.” 

“Really? They’re good?” Mingyu was so unrealistically excited about the words Jihoon had said, especially with how lukewarm they were; Jihoon couldn’t help but wonder if Mingyu was making fun of him, somehow. “I made them.”

“Oh. Good job, then.” 

Mingyu had not stopped smiling. “What were you frowning about?” He asked, stepping a bit closer, and Jihoon was surprised that Mingyu had known that he was frowning about anything. Mingyu pointed to his notebook. “Are you studying for something?” 

“I’m…” Wasn’t Mingyu supposed to be working? Jihoon glanced back at the counter, surprised to see Joshua there. He sent Joshua a look, a sort of “help me, I’m talking to a stranger” look, but Joshua just smiled and waved back at him. “I’m working on a song, actually.”

“Oh really? And you’re frowning at it?” Mingyu’s face went to one of concern. “Why?” 

Jihoon didn’t really mean to tell Mingyu, but frustration about the composition had been brewing in him for weeks, and it kind of burst out anyway. 

“I don’t have any inspiration. I have what could be the opening melody, but I don’t know where to take it from here, and I just--” He was shoving the earbuds in Mingyu’s direction and Mingyu, looking a bit surprised, took them and put them in his ears without complaint. “I liked this yesterday, but I can’t even tell if I like it anymore; it’s supposed to be summer-like and light, but…” 

He played the opening seconds for Mingyu, who requested to hear it a couple more times before speaking. 

“I don’t--I mean, I don’t know very much about music, but this could get a bit repetitive.” He said, and the criticism was such a surprise that Jihoon leaned back a bit in his chair. “Why don’t you start the next sequence a little lower?” 

“Lower?” Jihoon asked, taking one of the earbuds for himself, Mingyu having to lean in a little more to accommodate the distance that the cord of the earbuds needed to cross. “How much lower?” 

“I mean, not much.” Mingyu tried to hum the note, Jihoon listening along and playing what he heard. It was a full step lower, going from E flat to D flat instead, Mingyu nodding in excitement and pulling the phone towards himself across the table. He tried to emulate the previous rhythm, but his fingers were clumsy. Hearing it was all Jihoon needed though, to understand what he meant; he tapped the rhythm out, and Mingyu grinned at him. “Something like that, maybe?” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Jihoon murmured. Mingyu drew away, his grin a little sheepish. 

“I actually have to get back to work now.” He said, and he sounded truly apologetic. “Enjoy your cookie, okay?” 

“Oh, right. Thanks.” 

Mingyu smiled again, and then he was gone, and Jihoon turned back to his little keyboard app. He played out the beginning, then added the second line that Mingyu had come up with. He took the note even lower, tapping away, and began to feel the start of what could be a melodic line. It wasn’t the feeling that Jihoon had been trying to go for, not at all, but he had to admit that it wasn’t bad. It was brighter, bouncier than he was used to, especially for all being in F minor, but it could work. 

Mingyu would pass by him periodically and ask him how things were going, always with a bright smile. And it was going well, being able to actually compose feeling like a breath of fresh air, Jihoon smiling back. Mingyu’s smile… It was ridiculously bright really, and almost too warm, and Jihoon… He couldn’t say he didn’t like it. It just worried him a little, for reasons he couldn’t pin down. 

Jihoon picked up the pen he’d brought, staring down the empty notebook page. Because these thoughts--goddamn it, these thoughts were song lyrics, and Jihoon began penning them out as quickly as he could. 

The next time Mingyu came over to his table, Jihoon had to grab at his notebook and hide it against his chest. 

“You’re writing a lot!” Mingyu said happily. “Did something inspire you?” 

“My roommate… He said that getting out of the apartment might help.” Jihoon said. He was going to kill Wonwoo for this. “I guess he was right. I think--” Jihoon began collecting his things. He couldn’t do this, not with Mingyu here, with Mingyu passing by him and smiling at him and trying to talk to him. “--I think I’m going to go, though.”

“Oh, okay. Wait!” Mingyu rushed back to the counter, returning with a small, napkin-wrapped parcel. “My last cookie.” He said. “You should take it.” 

Jihoon wasn’t blushing. He  _ wasn’t,  _ his fingers brushing Mingyu’s as he took the pastry. 

“Thank you, Mingyu.” 

Jihoon returned home to absolute chaos. He opened the front door, and the first thing he heard was a shout, undoubtedly Soonyoung’s voice, and sounding like it was coming from Soonyoung’s bedroom. 

“Should I wear my rainbow suspenders?”

“Why the hell do you own rainbow suspenders?” Wonwoo shouted back, from what seemed to be his own room. Jihoon took a bite of his second free cookie just as Junhui appeared in the living room. He had on shorts and a very deep drop armhole muscle tank, and Jihoon raised an eyebrow at him. With how long Junhui’s arms and legs were, there was an almost obscene amount of skin on display.

“Why are you dressed like that?” 

“Modeling job.” Junhui responded. “I have to be sexy, or something.”

“...it said that in the ad?” Jihoon asked. Junhui was paying for school by doing various, odd modeling gigs; they always sounded sketchy, and paid too well for the simple things Junhui was asked to do. Jihoon, Soonyoung, and Wonwoo were convinced that the pictures were probably taken for weird, super specific fetish reasons, that Junhui was much too handsome for his own good, and that he was probably going to get kidnapped someday. 

“Yeah.”

“Okay then.” But Junhui was proficient in martial arts, so Jihoon wasn’t overly concerned. He took a picture of what Junhui was wearing anyway, just in case he had to make missing posters tomorrow. “Stay safe.” 

Junhui saluted him, then slipped out the door. Soonyoung tromped into the living room next, wearing ripped jeans and an orange t-shirt with a blue, pink, yellow, and silver windbreaker overtop. The silver parts of the jacket were metallic. Looking at him hurt Jihoon’s eyes a little bit. 

“Do I look pan enough?” Soonyoung asked. He sounded distressed. 

“I’ll hit you with a pan.” Jihoon responded. 

“Come on.” Soonyoung whined, pouting exaggeratedly. “You’re gay. Give me fashion advice.” 

Jihoon stared at Soonyoung for a solid five seconds before breaking down into loud laughter. Soonyoung broke too, his whole face scrunching up, Wonwoo walking in on both of them giggling. He, thankfully, was dressed normally. He also looked a little concerned. 

“Are you sure I can come to this thing?” He asked Soonyoung. Jihoon raised his eyebrows in interest. 

“Where are you guys going?” He asked. 

“I found out the other day that our school has an LGBT club thing.” Soonyoung said. “Joshua is a member, and he told me about it. There’s a meeting today, and I want to go, but I didn’t want to go alone. Wonwoo said he would come with me.” 

“Why wouldn’t you be allowed?” Jihoon asked Wonwoo.

“Well, I just…” Wonwoo shrugged. “I know that there’s disagreements on whether or not asexuality should be allowed in the queer community, and I don’t want to make anyone upset, or uncomfortable, so--”

“Stop being stupid.” Soonyoung told him, cutting him off. “You’re allowed. And Jihoon will tackle anyone who says otherwise to the ground. Right?”

Jihoon nodded, taking another bite of his cookie and pointing at Soonyoung. 

“You should change your shirt.”

“I knew I could count on you.” Soonyoung said. Jihoon flipped him off, but Soonyoung just blew him a kiss as he went back to his bedroom.

“You could come too, if you want.” Wonwoo offered, but Jihoon shook his head. He’d had more than enough socializing today, and he actually felt inspired to work on the song now, the sensation running down his arms and putting an itch in his fingertips, making him want to create. He needed to hurry up and get started, before the feeling was gone. 

“Nah. Someone needs to stay here and make sure Jun gets back alive.”

“That’s a good point.” Wonwoo allotted. “He showed me the ad before he left; literally all the ad had on it was ‘must be sexy’. I’m kind of nervous this time, honestly.”

“He’ll be okay.” Jihoon said, though he did make a mental note to text Junhui periodically for the next couple of hours. “He’s a skyscraper that can do a butterfly kick. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” 

Wonwoo shrugged a little, just as Soonyoung reappeared. He had on a white shirt now instead of the orange one, and looking at him didn’t really give Jihoon a headache anymore, so he gave Soonyoung a thumbs up.

“Are you sure?” Soonyoung asked, turning around as though to show off the entirety of his outfit, despite the entirety of his outfit being jeans and a jacket. “Does it like… Look good?” 

“Why do you care so much?” Jihoon asked back, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Wonwoo glanced Jihoon’s way.

“Because Joshua invited him, remember?” 

“It’s not like… It’s not like it’s a date, though.” Jihoon countered. 

“But it’s the first time we’re really going to see each other for something outside of work.” Soonyoung had a bit of a nervous whine in his voice. “I want him to, I don’t know, think I dress well when I don’t have a uniform on.”

“Relationships built on lies never last.” Wonwoo said, his voice flat, and Jihoon snorted out a laugh. Soonyoung had been working at the cafe for roughly two years. He’d also had a blushy sort of crush on Joshua for roughly two years. Whether or not he would actually ever do anything with those feelings was still up in the air. 

“Shut up! Let’s go.” Soonyoung looped an arm around Wonwoo’s, dragging him towards the door, Wonwoo’s expression deadpan, Jihoon laughing at them as they left. Then he holed himself up in his bedroom with his keyboard, his soundboard, his notebook, and his computer, and he got to work. 

  
  


There were a lot of things that Seungcheol liked about being Mingyu’s roommate. Mingyu liked to clean. Mingyu could sleep through just about anything. Mingyu was nice, and Mingyu was helpful, and Mingyu could sew, able to patch up Seungcheol’s clothes or pillows. The absolute best thing about living with Mingyu though, was that Mingyu could cook. 

Culinary was one of the things Mingyu was majoring in, so Seungcheol figured he had to be good at it, but it still came as a surprise to him every once in a while, especially with how often he dropped knives, or caught things on fire at the stove. Even better was that Mingyu liked to cook, so as long as Seungcheol paid for a bit more than his share of the groceries, Mingyu was more than happy to make dinner most nights. He always made a little too much food, so if they didn’t feel like sharing with Vernon and Minghao, they usually had leftovers to eat, too. The only night Seungcheol was responsible for figuring out what he and Mingyu were eating for dinner were the nights that Mingyu had Pride Club meetings. 

Tonight was one of those nights. Seungcheol could make really simple food, and he could grill meat, but it didn’t feel fair to present Mingyu with plain grilled meat and instant ramen when Mingyu literally fed him five-star meals every other day of the week, so usually Seungcheol ordered food from an actual restaurant. And, because he was predictable and whipped and just a little bit pathetic, he usually ordered food to go from the restaurant Jeonghan worked at. 

He was there now. Jeonghan had already taken his order and his food was in the process of being made, so Seungcheol was standing in the lobby, pretending to play on his phone and sneaking glances at Jeonghan, watching him flit around to all the different tables he was waiting on, smiling at customers and occasionally making small talk, beautiful and bright. It didn’t take Seungcheol long to notice that Jeonghan was going around in a pattern, making sure he didn’t leave any table out, making sure all of the patrons were being properly cared for. It also didn’t take Seungcheol long to notice that there was one table that Jeonghan was actively avoiding. 

It was a small group of guys, and they seemed to be people that Jeonghan knew, speaking to him comfortably. Jeonghan would respond but would also keep his distance, only approaching the table when one of them asked him to bring them something. Seungcheol couldn’t help but wonder why, the pretense of looking at his phone dropped as he watched what was going on, Jeonghan’s unease making Seungcheol uneasy as well. 

One of the guys--the one that was trying the most to talk to Jeonghan while Jeonghan was working--had asked for an extra straw. The situation was already off, because Seungcheol had seen the guy take the straw he already had and toss it on the floor only moments before. When Jeonghan stepped close to hand it to him, the guy didn’t reach out to take it; instead, he brought his hand back and grabbed Jeonghan’s ass. Jeonghan jumped and turned, shock and a bit of fear on his face, and the guy laughed, and Seungcheol was stepping forwards and yelling before he’d even realized it.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” 

Seungcheol knew that some people found his face and his stature intimidating, feeling a vicious sort of satisfaction about that as he watched the offender draw away from Jeonghan. The guy didn’t apologize though, didn’t back down, standing up instead.

“I was joking around.” He said, and while Seungcheol hadn’t been able to hear the preceding conversation, how pale Jeonghan had gone made it obvious that he hadn’t found the attention funny. “We’re just friends.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Seungcheol said, crossing his arms, partially because he knew it made his biceps bulge and partially to remind himself to maybe not step forwards and start strangling the guy, and Jeonghan put a hand on his arm. Seungcheol glanced over at him, at the expression on his face, realizing that what he’d done probably wasn’t good. He was making a scene at Jeonghan’s place of work. He didn’t regret defending Jeonghan, but he didn’t want to get Jeonghan into any sort of trouble, ready to apologize when the offender spoke up again.

“What the hell is it to you, anyway? Who the fuck are you?” 

Without missing a beat, without even glancing his way, Jeonghan spoke. 

“He’s my boyfriend.” 

That, thankfully, made the guy sit down. It also made Seungcheol feel like he’d been hit over the head with a two-by-four. Jeonghan curled a hand around his arm, leaning in close to whisper to Seungcheol, his voice still loud enough to be heard by the table in front of them.

“It’s okay, babe. I’ve got this. Thank you, though.” 

The last words were sincere enough for Seungcheol to not feel too badly about jumping in, and Seungcheol let himself be taken back to the lobby by Jeonghan, who thanked him again once they were standing out of earshot.

“I’m sorry.” Seungcheol started, because it still felt important to say. “I shouldn’t have--” 

Jeonghan leaned in, pressing a light kiss to his cheek. 

“I’ll go check on your food, okay?” He said, but he could have said anything and Seungcheol would have responded with the same stunned nod. Then he noticed that the guy had turned around in his chair to watch him from inside the restaurant, and Seungcheol tried to get his face more neutral, meeting the guy’s eyes and raising an eyebrow instead. Then the guy turned away, and Seungcheol was able to have his internal panic in peace.

He could still feel where Jeonghan had kissed him, the place just a bit warmer than the rest of his face, though his whole body felt hot with blush. He wasn’t even sure, with their limited interactions, that he could call himself Jeonghan’s friend but now, for at least the next ten minutes, he had to stand in as Jeonghan’s overprotective boyfriend. He considered texting Mingyu, just to have someone to panic to about the situation, but he couldn’t think of anything Mingyu could say that would be remotely helpful. 

Jeonghan had a bag of food in his arms when he returned. 

“Here.” He said. “Sorry for… Sorry for springing that on you.” 

“Should I…” Seungcheol took the bag of food from Jeonghan, glancing back at the table. The guy was watching them again, so he leaned in a bit closer, shifting the bag into one arm so he could take Jeonghan’s hand in the other. “Do you want me to stay here until those guys leave?” 

Jeonghan shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.” He said. “I can handle them, I just… I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. I can’t talk now, but I do want to talk to you later, so I put my phone number in there.” He gestured to the bag. “My shift ends in an hour. Text me then, okay?” 

“Oh. Yeah, sure.” His phone number. He had Jeonghan’s phone number. “Of course.” 

“Are they still watching?” Jeonghan asked, and Seungcheol gave a quick nod. Jeonghan took Seungcheol’s free hand in both of his, bringing Seungcheol’s knuckles to his mouth. He didn’t kiss them--he didn’t need to, his back was to the rest of the restaurant--but his lips did brush Seungcheol’s hand very briefly, Jeonghan meeting his eyes, and Seungcheol’s brain all but short-circuited.

“Alright.” Jeonghan murmured. “Go. Text me later.” 

“Okay.” Seungcheol made to leave, Jeonghan keeping a hold on his hand so that it trailed behind him a bit before letting it go. It was all very performative, but Seungcheol was a bit too dazed to really care about that, relying mostly on autopilot to get him to his dorm room. He ate, but was distracted the whole time, counting down the minutes until Jeonghan’s shift was over, sending a text as soon as the hour was up. 

_ Hey, it’s Seungcheol. Did you finish your shift okay? _

For about ten minutes, nothing happened. Then, without warning, Jeonghan called him. 

“Hello?” Seungcheol was on his feet as soon as he put the phone to his ear, pacing a circle around his room.

“Hi! I’m leaving now.” It was Jeonghan. There was a smile in his voice. “And yes, I did finish my shift okay. Those jerks didn’t leave a tip, but that’s fine.” 

“Did they bother you anymore?”

“I mean, a little.” Jeonghan’s voice was light. “He asked when we got together, so I said it was pretty recent. Then he just tried to make jokes about your appearance.”

“Oh.” Seungcheol preferred that to the dude talking about--or to--Jeonghan, but he didn’t need to be told that the guy had a more conventionally attractive face than he did. He’d been able to tell that just by looking. But then Jeonghan made a noise into the receiver.

“Seungcheol, if that guy thinks he’s more handsome than you are, he needs a reality check with a lawn chair.” 

Seungcheol couldn’t help a laugh, the compliment bringing a smile to his face just as much as the joke, and there was a small chuckle on Jeonghan’s end too.

“That guy… He’s on the tennis team.” Jeonghan said after a moment. “He’s actually been bothering me for a while. Just saying stuff, but still.”

“Seriously?” A spark of anger lit itself in Seungcheol’s chest. “Isn’t there someone--?”

“I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.” Jeonghan said, his voice extremely dismissive, before Seungcheol could finish getting the question out. “I don’t know if I’ll be taken seriously. Besides, I already have a friend that said he’d talk to people for me. But he really backed off when I mentioned you, so…”

“Is there something else that I could do?” Seungcheol asked. He didn’t like to hit people, but wasn’t completely opposed to maybe punching Lawn Chair Dude’s face in. Jeonghan was quiet for a moment, something doubtful in his voice when he answered. 

“Do you think you could come to tennis practices? Just, you know, to sit around and look hot and pretend you’re in love with me. The first two will come really easy to you, I promise.” 

Seungcheol didn’t say it, but he was pretty sure that he was already working on the last part of that request, too. He didn’t even need to consider it, agreeing immediately. 

“Yeah. Of course I can.”

“Are you sure?” Jeonghan asked. “Would you really want to keep pretending to be my boyfriend? I really sprung that on you out of nowhere, honestly; I wouldn’t mind if you said no.” 

“I want to help.” Seungcheol said earnestly. “And it’s not like--it’s not like I wouldn’t want to spend time with you.” 

“You’re so sweet.” Jeonghan said, a smile in his voice again. Unfortunately, in talking through the plan, Seungcheol realized that he couldn’t; he had class at the same time that Jeonghan had practice, every single week.

“I can pick you up though, if you want.” Seungcheol offered. “I think my class is over thirty minutes before your practice ends. I could head down there, wait for you to be done, and walk you home. That way he’ll still see us together, right?”

“True.” Jeonghan let out a bit of a sigh. “It will be good to have you standing behind me when I tell him to leave me alone, if you can look at him again like you’re going to punch his face in. Your arms are ridiculous, by the way.” 

The compliment had Seungcheol’s face burning, drawing his arms into his chest a bit. 

“I… Thanks.” 

Jeonghan laughed. “So that’s it, then? We’re dating?” 

“Pretending.” Seungcheol clarified, because he needed to keep that straight in his own head, for his own sanity. “But yeah. If you want to.” 

“Watch out. I’m going to make really gross posts about you on instagram.” 

Seungcheol laughed, the words putting a flutter in his chest. He tried to stamp on the feeling as soon as he realized it, but he was smiling a little too much.

“That’s fine.” He said. 

“You’ll pick me up from practice, and we’ll go from there, okay?” 

“Yeah.” Nerves spiked in Seungcheol’s chest, anxious and excited at the same time. “Sounds good.” 

“It does sound good.” Jeonghan agreed. “Now you should send me a picture of yourself.”

The request took a moment to actually register in Seungcheol’s mind. “...what?”

“A picture of you!” Jeonghan repeated. “I need a contact photo for your phone number. I could just take that gym selfie you posted on instagram, but as much as I like it, I think the whole point of a contact photo is that it actually has the person’s face in it.” 

Seungcheol could feel his ears burning. He still remembered, a couple of days ago, when Jeonghan had liked, unliked, and then liked the post again, and he'd spent nearly an hour wondering what that could mean. 

“I, uh--yeah, okay.” 

“I’ll send you one too.” Jeonghan promised. “Make sure it’s something cute; something that you would only send your boyfriend, you know?”

“Right.” 

Jeonghan hung up, and Seungcheol was now faced with the absolutely herculean task of taking a selfie that he deemed good enough to send to Jeonghan. It took him twenty minutes to take one, and still he wasn’t completely satisfied with it, but it was a little cutesy, as requested; he was pouting his lips a bit, his fingers up by the side of his head to make a peace sign. When he returned to messages to send it, he saw that Jeonghan had already sent him one; Jeonghan was looking at the camera, his thumb and forefinger over his lips to make a small heart. Seungcheol saved the photo before sending his own selfie.

Jeonghan didn’t respond about the picture itself, but he sent another text a couple of minutes later with an image attached. 

_ I told you I was going to be gross. _

The screenshot was Seungcheol’s contact info in Jeonghan’s phone, with the photo he’d sent in the small circle. His contact name was  _ cheolie,  _ with red hearts on each side of his name. 

This was fake, Seungcheol reminded himself. This was fake. All of this was fake. 

_ What do you want your name to be?  _ He asked back.

_ Whatever you want is fine. _

Seungcheol decided to keep it simple, just using Jeonghan’s name, because he wasn’t sure he could handle much else. 

_ I have to go now, so I’ll talk to you later. _ Jeonghan sent.  _ I can’t wait to see you! _

He finished the message with a heart. Seungcheol fell on his back onto his bed, unable to help but wonder what on earth he’d just gotten himself into. 

  
  


“And then… Well, I helped the guy out of there, and we left.” Joshua was saying. He was telling a story about a homophobic hate-monger he’d run into on his way to work. “He came to work with me, and then Mingyu gave him a cookie. He said he was fine, and he truly didn’t seem bothered by it honestly, but I was surprised that a speaker like that was on campus at all. He wasn’t with any organization, and I had to go to work, so I have no idea how long he stayed there, bothering people.”

Seungkwan frowned, nodding along. The worry and distress was clear on Joshua’s face, and Seungkwan admired him for speaking up. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one.

“It’s amazing that you said something.” Soonyoung said. Soonyoung was someone Joshua knew, and had come to the meeting with his friend Wonwoo once Joshua had told him about the club’s existence. He was sitting very close on Joshua’s right side, their thighs touching, their shoulders occasionally brushing together. Seungkwan didn’t miss the small smile that made its way onto Joshua’s face. He also didn’t miss Wonwoo, for some reason, rolling his eyes.

“Thanks.” 

“What are we going to do about him, though?” Mingyu asked. 

“We don’t know who he is, and if he looked like a student, then he could have just walked on campus without the university knowing anything about it.” Seungkwan said. “If he’s gone, then he’s gone.” 

“You’re not going to complain to anyone?” Seokmin asked, sounding surprised.

“Oh, I’m going to complain.” Seungkwan said. “Don’t worry about that. But I just think we need to put more energy into helping the people he talked to than into finding out who he is, that’s all.” 

That statement got nods of agreement. The Pride Club had gathered in a conference room in the library today, Seungkwan having reserved the place earlier in the week. Membership wasn’t a requirement to come to the meetings, and coming every week wasn’t a requirement either, because Seungkwan understood that academics and personal problems always came first. That resulted in each meeting having a mixed conglomeration of students. 

Soonyoung raised his hand, looking like a grade schooler with a question, so after a moment of not being sure how to respond, Seungkwan pointed to him. 

“Yes?” 

“Well, if we don’t know who he talked to--and we probably don’t want to ask--then why don’t we just do a general, positivity campaign?” Soonyoung asked. “There’s nothing bad about a little more good, right?” 

Joshua glanced over at Soonyoung with that same small smile back on his face. They tried to talk about what that might mean, proposing posters and slogans. 

“We could do that thing where people decorate their own pots, and everyone goes home with their own little flower!” Seokmin proposed. “I saw that on pinterest. It seemed cute!”

“We could call an animal shelter, and see if they’ll let people play with the adoptable puppies.” Soonyoung said, and Seokmin’s mouth fell open. 

“Wait, you can do that? That's a thing?” Seokmin asked in amazement, looking at Soonyoung like he had a new best friend for introducing this concept into his life.

“I think so, yeah.” Mingyu said, laying his forearm on his crossed knee scrolling on his phone in his hand. “I could look around and call some places.” 

“Hold on, hold on.” Seungkwan was feeling a little overwhelmed. “One thing at a time. We could make some posters and stuff, sure, but we’ll have to check the budget for the pots and paints and plants.” He pulled out a pen and paper, and began listing out the things that the other members of the club proposed, trying to figure out which ideas were the most plausible.

“Hold on, I thought of something." Wonwoo said. “We should do the shelter animal thing later in the year. Students are busy now, but if we do it at the end of the semester, people might be more inclined to adopt.”

“Give this man a raise!” Soonyoung exclaimed, pointing at Wonwoo, and the group laughed, Wonwoo looking embarrassed by the attention but laughing along. They talked about it a little longer before switching topics, Seungkwan bringing up the problem Jeonghan was having with his tennis teammate. Combining that issue with what Joshua had brought up all in the same hour was a bit disheartening, putting Seungkwan in a downtrodden mood. Mingyu seemed to notice, coming up to him once the meeting had come to a close and leaning in a little. 

“You okay?” 

The answer was no, but Seungkwan struggled with how to phrase how he felt. He tried to think all the way out of the library, his friends all walking in a group away from campus and towards housing. Mingyu was hanging back with him, but Seokmin, Joshua, Wonwoo, and Soonyoung were up ahead, Soonyoung and Seokmin speaking enthusiastically to each other, Joshua and Wonwoo watching the exchange in amusement.

“I like being gay!” He finally exclaimed. Mingyu laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

“I do too.” He said. “I love it.” 

“But I feel like… I don’t know, a couple of things have been bad lately. It makes me sad.” 

Mingyu nodded a little. “What do you want to do about it?” 

“...I don’t know.” Seungkwan finally admitted with a sigh. “Something gay, that like… Also makes me feel good?” 

Mingyu raised an eyebrow at Seungkwan, grinning and shimmying his shoulders, letting out a wild giggle as Seungkwan hit him in the chest.

“Not like that!” He protested. Though, he had to admit, he’d been single now for longer than he’d like. “Just something good. Something nice.” 

Mingyu fell into thought next to him, walking a few paces before speaking up. 

“What about that fundraiser that we do?” He asked. The Pride Club did an event every year where they raised money to donate a lump sum to a charity of their choice. It was a nice thing to do, and it did make Seungkwan feel good, but it was months away, and Seungkwan told Mingyu so.

“Then let's just move it up!” Mingyu proposed. “We can do that, if you want. We can start planning, and do it next month.” 

“Yeah?” Seungkwan called out to the group ahead. “What if we moved the fundraiser, and did it sometime next month?” 

“I don’t see why not.” Joshua said after a moment’s consideration. “We’ll just have to decide on someone for the auction.”

“Someone for… The what?” Soonyoung asked after a moment, sounding equally hesitant and bewildered, and Joshua leaned a bit against Soonyoung’s body as he laughed. 

“We auction off a member of the club to go on a date.” Seokmin explained. “They agree to it and everything, and it’s usually pretty fun.” 

“But the person that did it for the past two years graduated, so we need to pick someone else.” Seungkwan said. “But I thought--I mean, isn’t the obvious choice Mingyu?” 

He gestured to Mingyu, who gave the group a cutesy pose before laughing.

“I can’t.” He said, and his face broke out into a smile. “I’m going to be a taken man by next month. No dates for me.” 

“Wait, really?” Soonyoung asked in excitement. “Are you interested in someone that’s interested in you?”

“I mean…” Mingyu got very embarrassed very quickly. “That’s what I’m hoping for.” 

The whole group cooed loudly at him, Seungkwan noticing that even Wonwoo had joined in. 

“There’s no ‘obvious choice’ anyway.” Soonyoung said, a bit of a stubborn pout to his lips that made his words sound more insistent. “Why couldn’t it be you, Seungkwan?” 

“Me?” Seungkwan couldn’t hide his surprise. 

“Yeah!” Seokmin exclaimed enthusiastically, slapping an arm on Seungkwan’s shoulder, and Seungkwan could feel his face heating up. “You’re cute.”

“You don’t think I’m cute.” Seungkwan accused.

“Of course I do!” Seokmin whined.

“You are cute.” Soonyoung tacked on. “And you’re funny.”

“And you’re talented.” Seokmin added. 

“And smart.” Soonyoung countered. 

“And thoughtful.”

“And sexy.” 

Seokmin and Soonyoung were going back and forth, getting increasingly louder, as the rest of them began to laugh. It felt a bit like a joke, but the words were nice as well, and Seungkwan started laughing too. The thing about it though, was that Soonyoung had only met him for the first time today, so he was getting suggestions whispered to him by Joshua and yelling those instead.

“Plus, you’ve got a great ass.” Mingyu chimed in, and Seungkwan reached up to begin throttling him, and the compliment war deteriorated completely into laughter.

“Fine. Fine!” Seungkwan finally exclaimed. “I’ll do it! I’ll do it.” 

“He’ll do it!” Mingyu cheered, and so did the rest of the group. They reached a crossroads, and Soonyoung and Wonwoo broke away to walk in the direction of their apartment building. Seungkwan thanked them for coming, and Seokmin and Soonyoung confirmed that they had each other’s phone numbers before the two turned away, wishing them a goodnight. 

“I’m the only one here that could do it anyway.” Seungkwan grumbled aloud. “Seokmin won’t, and you two,” he jerked his thumb at Mingyu, then Joshua in turn, “are all taken and stuff.” 

“...me?” Joshua asked after a moment, confusion on his face, and then it was Seungkwan’s turn to be confused. 

“You’re not dating Soonyoung?” He asked back, and Joshua’s entire face went pink. Sure, it had been a bit of an assumption, but with the way they’d been touching and whispering and giggling with each other the entire evening, it had felt like a safe assumption to make. 

“I--no, we’re just friends.” Joshua answered.

“That like each other.” Mingyu tacked on. Joshua pointed at Mingyu, trying to look stern, but he was blushing badly, and the expression wasn’t threatening in the slightest in the face of Mingyu’s slightly wolfish, teasing grin. 

“You can shut up.” 

“I  _ told  _ you that it’s obvious!” Mingyu exclaimed. “It’s not my fault!” 

That didn’t help the blush on Joshua’s face, and he seemed relieved that they’d reached the street that cut off to him and Jeonghan’s apartment, saying a quick goodnight and rushing off.

“That’s cute.” Seokmin said, a bit of a grin on his face. Mingyu let out a loud groan, stretching his arms over his head before flopping his upper body onto Seokmin’s shoulders. It was a lot of upper body, and Seokmin stumbled for a moment. 

“They’re not cute.” He protested. “They’re a mess. Working with them is torture, honestly. I’d cover the front all by myself, even at the busiest part of the day, if it meant Joshua dragging Soonyoung into the back and sucking his face off.”

“You’re a good friend, Mingyu.” Seungkwan told him, patting Mingyu’s shoulder. Seokmin, meanwhile, was wide-eyed.

“I did not think you were going to say ‘face’.” He confessed. Mingyu barked out a laugh and straightened up, giving them both a one-armed hug before heading off in the direction of his own dorm. Seokmin began to hum, and it was in that moment of quiet that Seungkwan realized the full extent of the conversation he’d just had with his friends; next month, he was going on a date. A date with a stranger. Why did he let his friends talk him into these things?

When they walked up to their dorm room, someone was standing in front of their door. Standing in front of their door, and writing on an orange sticky note that had been stuck to said door, in black sharpie. Seungkwan couldn’t hold in a gasp, pointing at him. 

“You!” He exclaimed. The stranger jumped and turned, and Seungkwan ran at him. To his credit, the stranger didn’t try to run away, though he mostly looked shocked at being pointed and yelled at, but that was fine with Seungkwan. He had some questions to ask, and he had some things to say, and he was going to say them before this guy tried to get away.

Embarrassingly, he felt a little out of breath from running all the way down the hallway, but he didn’t let that stop him, wheezing a little before pointing at the stranger again. It was a young man, probably around Seungkwan’s age but a little shorter, and Seungkwan could say with confidence that he’d never seen this person before in his life. Meaning he didn’t live on the same floor as he and Seokmin. Which made the sticky notes even more baffling. 

“You’ve been leaving the notes!”

Sticky Note Guy immediately began frowning, crossing his arms. 

“Yeah, well, you keep me up past three in the morning.” He said. “On Wednesdays. Wednesdays! Who does that?!” 

“You can’t just sleep through it?” Sticky Note Guy raising his voice just made Seungkwan raise his voice right back. Seokmin was walking up now, looking hesitant. 

“I live right above you, and you’re way too loud!” 

“Can’t you just buy earplugs?!” 

“I shouldn’t have to! You should buy them for me!” 

“Maybe I would have, if I knew who you were!” Seungkwan exclaimed, because yes, he knew he and Seokmin were loud and that he could be a nuisance, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel bad about it. He probably would have bought the guy earplugs, if he’d asked. Seokmin slipped past them and into the room, and Seungkwan followed him, and Sticky Note Guy came along too. Which was good, because Seungkwan wanted to keep yelling at him. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Chan!” 

“Well, Chan, the notes were rude.” The short name felt a little funny in Seungkwan’s mouth, but fit the stranger well; he was shorter than both Seungkwan and Seokmin, and looked a bit stocky and undoubtedly strong. “Why didn’t you just come down and, I don’t know, knock on our door?” 

Chan just stood there for a moment, looking like he genuinely hadn’t thought of that. 

“I was too tired and annoyed to really think about it when I left the first one, and it felt kind of weird to try to talk to you guys after that.” 

“But we’re nice!” Seungkwan said. He hoped Chan wouldn’t point out that he’d yelled, pointed, and run him down in the hallway just moments before, so he tried to deflect the statement off of himself a little. “Especially Seokmin! Seokmin is the nicest person in the world, actually, so I think you should apologize to him.”

That was a statement that Seungkwan genuinely believed, punctuated by Seokmin bringing them each a cup of ramen, fresh out of the microwave, each with a set of chopsticks. Chan looked very surprised, but accepted the food with thanks. 

“And what was all that about us sounding sloppy?” Seungkwan asked, going over to his desk, digging through a drawer until he found Chan’s note from last week and pulling it out to shove it in his face. 

“If you try to sing something with three people, and you only have two, then sometimes the lines get cut short because they’re supposed to overlap, and it sounds bad!” Chan defended. Seokmin let out a loud slurp from his desk chair, watching them with a mouthful of noodles. 

“Well, I wanted to sing Orange Caramel anyway.”

“And I wanted to sleep!” Chan took a bite of ramen, his mouth full as he spoke again. “It is kind of nice, sometimes though. I like Apink, so it’s a little bit fun when you sing their songs.”

“Wonder Girls are better.” Seungkwan said, just because that was his default statement, first and foremost, when girl groups were brought up into any conversation. “But Apink have some fun songs.”

“Oh, I don’t know a lot about older stuff.” Chan said, sitting down on Seokmin’s bed. “The artist that did ‘Gashina’ though, she was in Wonder Girls, right?” 

“Sunmi is a  _ queen.”  _ Seungkwan said emphatically, laughing as Chan got up off Seokmin’s bed and did some of the dance from  _ Gashina’s _ music video, wondering how the conversation had ended up here, when he and Chan had been yelling at each other just ten minutes before. Chan was supposed to be his sworn enemy. They chatted about music as they ate, Seokmin also chiming in, and it wasn’t until Chan put his ramen cup down, empty, that the sticky notes were brought back up. He pointed to the note from last week that Seungkwan had put down on his desk.

“I can’t believe you kept those.” He said.

“I was on a mission!” Seungkwan said. “I had to find out who was leaving them.” He told the tale of his detective work, and at one point in his story Chan gasped, pointing directly at Seungkwan’s face. It made Seungkwan lean back a bit.

“Wait, your name is Seungkwan?” Chan asked loudly, and Seungkwan realized he hadn’t introduced himself at all except for just then, during his tale, and he nodded.

“Yeah! Sorry. I’m Boo Seungkwan.” 

“Your name is Seungkwan, you like the Wonder Girls…” Chan seemed to be talking to himself. Then he gasped again, very loudly. “Do you listen to Chilli Sauce?” 

“He listens to it every night.” Seokmin said helpfully. “He calls in a lot.”

“Why are you asking?” Seungkwan asked, his voice slow in confusion, and Chan beamed.

“I work at the radio station.” He said. “Want to be on air with Vernon some time? I could probably get my boss to agree to let a guest on the show.”

Chan was supposed to be Seungkwan’s sworn enemy, but Seungkwan was pretty sure that right now, Chan was his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're reading this pls yell at me to work on my current wip bc i cannot focus on it to save my life rn


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS SO LONG I AM SO SORRY. at least it is cute.
> 
> huge thank you to everyone that told me to work on my wip last week! it was very motivating thank u ♡ 
> 
> additional warning in this chap for me trying to describe a radio show with absolutely no idea how radio shows work

Vernon wasn’t usually nervous to go on the air. Today though, he had an ache in his chest and butterflies in his stomach. It wasn’t going to be a normal show; for the first time ever, Chilli Sauce had a guest. Someone was coming on to promote an upcoming event for their club, and raise awareness for a fundraiser. They were going to be on for the entire hour, chatting between songs and making small talk. 

Vernon was finally going to meet Seungkwan. 

Sure, Vernon had talked to Seungkwan multiple times already, but the conversations were always short, and always just over the phone, and had all taken place before some things had happened. Before Vernon had started dedicating the last song of the show to Seungkwan, or before Vernon had found out how incredibly, devastatingly cute Seungkwan was. Before he’d liked one of Seungkwan’s instagram posts--which Vernon hadn’t really been nervous about at the time, but when Mingyu, Jihoon, and Chan had all reacted with the same horrified disbelief Minghao had, he’d begun to wonder if it had been a bad move after all. So now, Vernon was nervous. 

It had been Chan’s idea. Chan had burst into the radio room one evening with loud, excited news, saying that he’d made a new friend that Vernon was going to be very happy with. Vernon had had no idea what he was talking about. Once the situation had been explained, Jihoon hadn’t needed any convincing to let Seungkwan on the show; Jihoon had been the one to ask when they could have Seungkwan on, but Vernon had a feeling that it was less about Jihoon’s possible enthusiasm and activism for the campus’s LGBT fundraiser and more the absolute delight that he was going to get watching Vernon undoubtedly making a fool of himself for an entire hour straight. 

Chan was standing by the door, typing away at his phone--texting Seungkwan, Vernon guessed--and Vernon and Jihoon were sitting at a table a little ways away, Jihoon with earbuds in, Vernon tapping at the table. Then Chan grinned, slipped his phone into his pocket, and left, reentering about five minutes later with two people in tow. 

One of the people was a stranger, handsome and tall with a thin face, wearing an easy smile. The second person was Seungkwan. Vernon stood up before he realized he was going to do it.

“Hi.” 

Jihoon stared at him, a huge and slightly scary grin on his face. Thankfully, Seungkwan smiled at Vernon too, but Chan ended up taking care of the introductions, excitement in his voice as he did. The person that Vernon didn’t know was Seokmin, Seungkwan’s friend and roommate, who seemed to have tagged along because Seungkwan had asked him to, though he wasn’t planning on being on the air. And while they all already knew, Seungkwan explained again why he was here; that he was the spokesperson for the university’s LGBT group, and wanted to promote an upcoming fundraiser. 

“I also--I had a couple of fun ideas.” Seungkwan said, when it was just he and Vernon in the booth together. There were about five minutes before the broadcast was to start. They’d had to set up a lot of extra things for Seungkwan, gathering up another microphone and another pair of headphones and dragging an extra chair into the tiny broadcasting room--despite Jihoon’s suggestion that Seungkwan just sit in Vernon’s lap. “Things that we could do.”

“Yeah?” Vernon asked, sitting back and glancing at him. He usually never prepared anything for broadcasts. He’d only started doing it recently, but the extent of that was picking out the girl group song he wanted to play at the very end of the day. 

“I don’t know if it would work, because I’ve never done this before.” Seungkwan said, gesturing vaguely to the microphone in front of him. “But since our music tastes are so different, I was thinking maybe we could play a game every couple of songs? Something like that. Whoever wins gets to play a song of their choice.”

Vernon tried to think through the logistics of that--because it was a cool idea--but Seungkwan immediately misread his silence. 

“We don’t have to!” He said quickly. “I’m sorry, I just thought, I don’t know, it could be fun or something but--” 

“Let’s do it.” Vernon said, nodding. Seungkwan didn’t need to apologize for his fun and creative suggestion. “That’s a really good idea, Seungkwan.” 

“Oh.” Seungkwan ducked his head a little bit. “Okay.” 

This was a different Seungkwan than Vernon had been expecting. Seungkwan was always so sharp-witted on the phone, bold and a little cheeky with him. But now Seungkwan was sitting next to him in a pastel purple sweater and looking a little anxious. 

“You alright?” Vernon asked him, and Seungkwan’s cheeks went pink. 

“Yeah!” He said loudly, sitting up a bit. “Yeah, yeah. I just…” 

“It’s just you and me.” Vernon told him. “Like usual, right? You don’t need to be nervous.” 

Seungkwan’s whole face turned pink at that, and Vernon hoped that Seungkwan wasn’t embarrassed about his nerves being noticed. But then Seungkwan smiled at him, and the broadcast started.

“You are listening to Chilli Sauce, this campus’s hour of rap, hip hop, and pop.” Vernon began. “Today though, we have a special guest. Would you like to introduce yourself?” 

“I’m Seungkwan!” Seungkwan said happily, and Vernon couldn’t help but smile at him. “Vernon agreed to let me be on the show for today.” 

Seungkwan glanced over at Vernon, and Vernon gave him a nod. He was doing well. Seungkwan’s smile went a bit wider, and he leaned in to talk into his mic again. 

“He was tired of listening to me insult his music taste over the phone. He wanted me here so I could do it in person.” 

That made Vernon laugh, leaning back a little so it wouldn’t be too loud into the microphone, and Seungkwan beamed.

“Yes, I’m going to let him play a couple of songs of his choice today.” Vernon agreed. “But first, please enjoy _Like Nobody Knows_ by Cheetah, featuring Ailee.” 

He put the song on, then popped one of his ears from his headphones. Seungkwan listened to the song for a few moments before he noticed what Vernon had done, doing the same. 

“What game are we going to play first?” Vernon asked. Seungkwan had a whole list, Vernon surprised by how much he prepared. Some of the ideas weren’t ideal for radio though, so they decided first to play a simple rhyming game; whoever ran out of rhymes first lost. Despite his ability to think on his feet, Seungkwan didn’t do well, and after letting a few rather questionable ones slide, Vernon had to call it, Seungwakn hanging his head in defeat. 

“I get to play Verbal Jint now.” Vernon told him. 

“Ah, seriously! You’re doing this to spite me.” Seungkwan complained, Vernon laughing as the song began to play. 

It might have been nerves, but more often than not, Vernon beat Seungkwan at whatever game it was they decided to play. Hello Cleopatra was probably the most fun, though they reversed it to make it more bearable for the listeners, going lower in tone instead of higher. Seungkwan was absolutely appalled at how low Vernon could make his voice go, putting a hand on his shoulder and resting against him in laughter as Vernon chanted the little rhyme, deep and gravely. 

Seungkwan definitely loosened up the longer they were on, and by the time they were halfway through the broadcast, he was back to teasing Vernon, his shoulders loose and relaxed. Seungkwan was so bright, so spirited as he spoke that Vernon just found him incredible to watch. It was hard, very hard not to stare at him, and Vernon failed spectacularly at keeping his eyes to himself; twice Seungkwan had to ask him there was something wrong, or if he had something on his face, and it was embarrassing both times. 

The last game they decided to play was rock-paper-scissors, and despite it being more of a game of chance than of skill, Vernon found himself wanting to let Seungkwan win. Then he realized that it was a completely visual game on an audio-only program, so he could. He threw out scissors, Seungkwan threw out paper, and Vernon let out an exclamation. 

“Seungkwan won.” He said, and Seungkwan sent him a quick look of confusion. 

“I… But--” 

“What song do you want to play?” Vernon asked, and Seungkwan began to smile. 

“Wonder Girls. ‘Nobody’.” 

“As you wish.” Vernon said, hooking the song up. As soon as it began playing, Seungkwan pulled his headphones off. 

“I didn’t win!” He exclaimed at Vernon, and Vernon laughed a little. Seungkwan had a huge smile on his face. 

“Yeah, I know.” 

Seungkwan seemed to realize, then, how much he was smiling and he tightly pursed his lips together, reaching out to lightly hit Vernon on the shoulder. Vernon just laughed again, unable to take his eyes from Seungkwan’s face as Seungkwan put his headphones back on, giving Vernon another pseudo-reproachful glance. But he easily and quickly got into the song, mouthing along to the words and doing a tiny dance, shifting in his seat with muted hand motions. It was one of the most endearing things Vernon had ever seen. 

The hour was coming to an end, Seungkwan revealing the real reason he was on the radio today. That he was organizing a fundraising event for the campus Pride Club, that it was happening next month, and that it was all going to be very fun. Vernon promised to keep listeners updated when the date came closer, Seungkwan thanking him, and it was time for the program to end. Vernon turned to Seungkwan. 

“What song do you want to end with?” He asked. Seungkwan thought for a moment.

“Can it be cute?” He asked.

“Whatever you want.”

“Can it be Gfriend’s _Navillera?”_

Vernon had never heard that song before, but he put it on and played it anyway, turning to Seungkwan questioningly. 

“It’s just cute and kind of gay.” Seungkwan explained after a moment. “It felt fitting after the fundraiser announcement.” 

That made Vernon laugh, and he completely took his headphones off. Seungkwan did too, albeit hesitantly.

“Are we done?” He asked, and Vernon nodded.

“We’re done!”

“Sorry for being so awkward.” The words were almost immediate, and they completely threw Vernon off. “I know you don’t usually like, play games or anything, but I was nervous about what I was supposed to--”

“Hey.” Vernon put a hand on his shoulder. “You did really well.”

He could almost feel the nervous energy in Seungkwan’s chest stuttering to a stop. 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. Seriously. You don’t have anything to apologize about. Ever since you first started calling in, we’ve had requests to get you on as a regular, actually.”

“You’re kidding.” Seungkwan’s voice was hushed, and he put a hand over his mouth. Part of Vernon had a hard time believing these reactions were real. He was so adorably animated. 

Chan had stayed behind in the broadcasting room, a usual notebook and pen with him, and had watched and listened to Vernon and Seungkwan. Vernon had fully expected Jihoon to do the same--to laugh at him if nothing else--surprised to find that Jihoon wasn’t there. Seungkwan’s friend was missing too, Vernon about to open his mouth and ask Chan where they’d gone when he heard sounds coming from a small side room. 

“What are they doing?” Seungkwan wondered aloud, going together with Vernon to the room. The closer they got, Vernon realized the sounds they were hearing was music. He figured it was something recorded, surprised when he looked in and saw Seokmin singing. 

It was a song Vernon knew he’d never heard before, the backing track from Jihoon’s phone sounding a little hollow, Seokmin looking down at a sheet of paper as he sang. But his voice was incredible, Vernon telling Seungkwan so. 

“Isn’t it?” Seungkwan’s face lit up. “You’ll have to tell him. I’ve told him so many times that I don’t think he believes me anymore. I wonder why they’re in here?”

Vernon was wondering the same thing, watching as Seokmin finished singing, gave Jihoon a smile, and held his hand up for a high five. To Vernon’s completely surprise, Jihoon reciprocated the gesture, slapping his palm against Seokmin’s own. Jihoon never gave high fives.

“They’re acting friendly.” Chan remarked. “That’s weird.”

Vernon nodded in agreement. Jihoon was legendarily difficult to become friends with. At first, when coming to the radio station, that was something Vernon had heard but hadn’t believed, because he and Jihoon got along rather well, not finding out until later that he himself had been a special case. On a normal day, to other people, Jihoon was a bit standoffish, and it was difficult to engage him in conversation. He wasn’t rude, not by any means; he just preferred to keep to himself. Vernon had seen other people try hard to befriend Jihoon and fail. Chan was going through the process of doing that right now. 

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Seungkwan said. “Seokmin makes friends everywhere. He’s just so nice, you know? People like him. And I’m not jealous! He’s wonderful, really. I’m so glad I know him. I really love him so much.” 

There was a smile on Seungkwan’s face, and Vernon felt his heart sink. The pieces were obvious, when he put them together; this was an attractive, older guy that Seungkwan lived with, and Seungkwan had brought him to the radio station to help with his nerves, and that… Well, that was one of the purest confessions of love Vernon had ever heard. Looking at Seungkwan, it was easy to see that someone this wonderful would definitely not be single. 

“That’s great.” Vernon managed out. Chan scribbled something into his notebook.

“Oh, hi!” Seokmin had heard them, turning around and smiling. “How did it go?” 

“I was nervous, but I did it.” Seungkwan reported with determination, Vernon nodding. 

“He did great.” He confirmed, Seokmin beaming at Seungkwan. 

“What are you guys doing in here?” Seungkwan asked.

“Jihoon’s writing a song!” Seokmin told them, pointing to the notebook. 

“I might use his voice for the final demo.” Jihoon explained. “I heard him singing a little bit earlier, and I really like the color of it; it’s really nice.” 

Seokmin looked incredibly touched by the compliment. They stayed and chatted a bit longer, but then Seokmin brought up something about finishing an essay, something that had Seungkwan groaning and checking the time on his phone, and they excused themselves. Seungkwan thanked all of them profusely for letting him be on the radio, bowing to everyone. Then he turned to the door, and Vernon felt his mouth go dry. 

“Oh, _wow.”_ Jihoon said. For a moment, Vernon thought Jihoon was talking about the same thing he was looking at, and was about to agree. Then he realized that Jihoon was looking at him, not at Seungkwan’s ass. Seungkwan’s incredibly perfect ass. “That was--Vernon, what I just watched was the absolute definition of ‘I hate to see him go, but I love to watch him walk away’.”

Chan nearly fell on the floor, laughing so hard he dropped his notebook. Vernon couldn’t really say much to defend himself. Jihoon wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t fair for Seungkwan to have such a cute face, such a witty personality, and such a great butt. It really, really wasn’t.

“I--here you go.” Chan finally choked out, and to Vernon’s surprise, picked his notebook up from the floor and held it out to Jihoon. Jihoon began skimming the page, reading some things aloud. 

“Laughed too loudly at a joke Seungkwan made… Stared at Seungkwan so long he asked if he had something on his face… Let Seungkwan win at rock-paper-scissors...” Jihoon looked up at Vernon, an impish grin on his face. “I told you that you were whipped. You should learn to listen to me.” 

“What is that?” Vernon asked, grabbing the notebook from Jihoon’s hands. 

“I was going to watch you make a fool of yourself, but then I heard Seokmin singing to himself, and I decided I wanted to talk to him.” Jihoon explained, fishing his wallet out of his pocket, and handing some bills over to Chan. Chan took them. Maybe Chan wasn’t failing at becoming Jihoon’s friend after all. “So I asked Chan to document you making a fool of yourself instead.”

Vernon skimmed the page. At the very bottom, Chan had written _Went through the five stages of grief when he assumed that Seungkwan was dating Seokmin._

“Hold on, ‘assumed’?” Vernon asked. “What do you mean?”

Chan grinned. “Seungkwan isn’t dating Seokmin. He’s single.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yep! They’re just friends.”

Vernon returned to his dorm with a spring in his step.

When he got there his room was empty, texting a _?_ to Minghao and getting a quick response back. 

_Gyu’s._

Mingyu and Seungcheol’s room was a couple of feet down the hall, the door unlocked. Vernon entered to see Minghao laying on Mingyu’s bed, Mingyu at his desk. He’d set up his portable stovetop and had a dangerously large wok perched on top of it, frying some kind of noodle-vegetable-beef dish that smelled amazing. Mingyu glanced up when he noticed the door had opened, beaming in Vernon’s direction. 

“Hungry?” He asked, and Vernon nodded. He was always hungry, if it was Mingyu’s cooking. Minghao sat up, reaching his arms out and making grabby hands in Vernon’s direction, so Vernon stepped closer obligingly and let Minghao wrap his arms around him. 

“My life is a joke.” He said, his voice a bit flat, and Vernon glanced down at him in surprise. 

“Are you okay?” He asked Minghao. Mingyu began to giggle, and Vernon looked over at him. “Why? What happened?” 

“You know how I put up an ad on instagram? A model for my new photography project? Guess who showed up.” 

Vernon was slightly surprised that anyone had showed up, but he wasn’t going to say that.

“Mingyu?” He guessed. Minghao let out a breath.

“No. Worse. Hotter, too.”

“Hey!” Mingyu complained. Vernon really had no idea, and he told Minghao so. Minghao let out a despairing sigh, and fell backwards onto Mingyu’s bed.

“Condom Guy!” He exclaimed. “Someone sent me a message on instagram saying that they were interested, but I didn’t want to look through their profile--I wanted to see them in person for myself first, and judge that way--and I was waiting in the art building and he just walked in! Wearing, like, no clothes, by the way, I could see all but like maybe two feet of him; the only part of him that was covered up was maybe his belly button down to the middle of his thighs--”

“And that’s two feet?” Mingyu asked in surprise, stopping the tossing of the stir fry for a moment. “How big do you think his dick is, then?” 

That had Minghao lying frozen on the bed for a couple of moments. Then he sent Mingyu a daggered glare.

“I should have just kept walking the first time I saw you.” He said. 

“I’m the one making you dinner.” Mingyu pointed out. 

“I could replace you with Yugane’s takeout number.” Minghao retorted. “You aren’t special.” 

“So wait, it was Condom Guy? You finally talked to him?” Vernon asked in interest, sitting next to Minghao on the bed. “Are you going to use him as a model?” 

“He’s weird, Vernon. He’s so weird.” 

Vernon frowned. “Bad weird?”

Minghao shook his head. “No, just… Weird. He was nice, actually? Though he did say a couple of things that were definitely supposed to be pick-up lines. Which felt bizarre, because he was standing there in a tanktop and shorts looking like a god, but…” Minghao sighed again. “I have to use him. He’s too hot for me not to.” 

“I knew you thought he was hot.” Vernon said.

“Of course I do.”

“When I said you did, you threw a pencil at me!” Vernon complained. “Do you know his name?”

“Wen Junhui.” 

That was a surprise. “He’s Chinese?”

“Yeah.” Minghao smiled then, just a bit. “It was really nice to talk to someone in Mandarin, actually. It had been a while.” Minghao had a few friends that were foreign exchange students, but they didn’t really contact each other that often. “But his Korean is better than mine, I think. And he was hitting on me in both languages.”

“Did any of the lines work?” Mingyu asked, taking the food off the stove and separating it out into four bowls. Seungcheol was at the gym, Mingyu covering the one intended for Seungcheol to eat later with plastic wrap and setting it aside. Minghao snorted.

“Of course not. They were all lame.”

“Well, they have to work on someone, if he’s picking up condoms all the time.” Vernon pointed out. Minghao sighed again. 

“Or he isn’t single. My life really is a joke.” 

“If it makes you feel any better, I made a fool of myself in front of my boss today.” Vernon told him, while Mingyu handed out the bowls to them. 

“That does make me feel better, actually.” Minghao said.

“Your boss?” Mingyu perked up with interest, so obviously that it was almost embarrassing. “That’s Jihoon, right?” 

Mingyu had become much more interested in Vernon’s job after finding out that Jihoon also worked there.

“Yeah. Seungkwan was a guest on the radio today, and I just…” Vernon took a bite of food, and promptly burnt his tongue. “Jihoon paid Chan to write down every time I did something stupid. It filled up a whole notebook page. I like, I actually couldn’t stop staring at him. He asked me if he had something on his face.” 

That had Mingyu breaking down in giggles, Minghao giving him a sympathetic pat on the knee. 

“Are you going to ask him out?” Mingyu asked once he’d caught his breath, and Vernon wasn’t sure what to say. 

“I mean--we don’t really know each other that well.” He finally said. Spending more time with Seungkwan was definitely something he did want to do, though. “And I don’t know when I’ll see him again. I…” He trailed off in disbelief. He really _was_ stupid. “I forgot to ask him for his phone number.” 

“I have it!” Mingyu said helpfully. “I can ask him if he’s okay with me giving it to you. How about that?” 

Vernon didn’t bother answering, because Mingyu was already typing away on his phone, presumably to text Seungkwan. Mingyu’s phone vibrated just moments later, and he beamed.

“He’s flattered. And he wants you to text him, so he’ll have your number too.” 

Mingyu handed his phone over so Vernon could copy Seungkwan’s--or, according to Mingyu’s phone, _Boodele’s--_ contact information, Vernon opening up a New Message. 

_Hey._

The response only took a second. 

_Hi! :)_

  
  


Jihoon hoped that Mingyu was working today. Mingyu had better be working today, because Jihoon didn’t think he had the courage to make this trip down to the cafe, flash drive in hand, more than once. 

He had finished the song. He had finished both the lyrics and the instrumental over the weekend, all of it happening embarrassingly quickly once he’d been inspired. The track was bouncy, cute and summery and definitely what the submission guide wanted. Jihoon was sure that with the right voices and more advanced technology than what he had in terms of a soundboard, the song could truly turn into something good. He had a decent amount of confidence in it.

So, Jihoon felt that since Mingyu had helped him out--as well as inspiring the entire thing--it was only fair that he get to hear the final product. 

Well, not the full final product. He planned on submitting a demo that had Seokmin’s voice in it, thinking that his bright and clear color matched the backing track better. What he had on the flash drive, bright and bouncy and entitled _Oh My!.mp3,_ was a version with his own voice in it. That was what he wanted to give to Mingyu, and he refused to look too far into it.

Jihoon stepped hesitantly through the doors, looking up quickly towards the barista counter. Mingyu was there, taking a customer’s order, smiling politely and nodding. Then he glanced up, obviously having noticed the door opening, meeting Jihoon’s eyes and absolutely beaming. Jihoon tried to ignore the feeling that Mingyu’s apparent delight had sent running through his stomach.

He was _definitely_ going to kill Wonwoo for making this happen. 

Jihoon stepped up to the counter, so focused on the fact that he was here to give Mingyu the flash drive that the question of what it was he wanted to order completely caught him off guard. He didn’t particularly want anything, but free caffeine was free caffeine, and after a moment, he shrugged.

“I don’t really care.” He said. “Surprise me. Make sure I like it, though.” 

Mingyu grinned. “I like a challenge.” He said, winking and turning to get the drink ready. Watching Mingyu take his wallet out and pay for the coffee was just as satisfying as it had been the first time. 

“Joshua’s not here today?” Jihoon asked.

“Oh, he is. He’s in the back.” Mingyu slid the drink across the counter. “This one’s on me, though.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to.” 

For a moment, Jihoon didn’t know what to say, opting instead to just let the words slide.

“I, um--I have something for you, too.” Jihoon fished the flash drive out of his pocket. “I finished the song I was working on, and I figured, since you helped me out with it…” He extended the flash drive in Mingyu’s direction. “I don’t know, you should listen to it, I guess.” 

Mingyu’s face broke out into another smile. He reached out, but instead of taking the flash drive, covered Jihoon’s entire hand with his own. Jihoon simply stood there, completely distracted by how big Mingyu’s hand looked around his. Was every part of Mingyu huge?

“My shift ends in ten minutes.” Mingyu said. “Would you wait for me? Then we can go somewhere--maybe your place?--and listen to it together. Okay?” 

“Okay.” Jihoon heard himself say, because he hadn’t expected any of that to come out of Mingyu’s mouth, and felt a bit stunned. Mingyu beamed, then stepped away to help the next customer, and Jihoon got himself out of the way, going to a small table and sitting down. Then the reality of the situation seemed to hit him, and he sent a quick text to the roommate group chat. 

_Anyone at the apartment rn?_

The first response, surprisingly, came from Wonwoo. 

_From: Wonton Soup  
_ _nope. soonyoung and i are shopping._

Soonyoung sent ten tiger emojis, and Junhui, surprisingly, did not respond at all. Junhui was always on his phone, so Jihoon figured that he was either busy or asleep, and he let out a sigh of relief. Mingyu wouldn’t be exposed to too much all at once, at least. That, and his friends wouldn’t be there to embarrass him too much. 

Jihoon sipped his coffee--he couldn’t really tell what exact mix of milk and sugars Mingyu had added to the drink, and he didn’t think it was an item that was actually on the menu, but it was good anyway--as he watched Mingyu work. Mingyu was good with people, comfortable with people, but Jihoon couldn’t help but notice that whenever Mingyu glanced over at him, he seemed to be the only one that was on the receiving end of Mingyu’s especially bright smile. 

Despite saying ten minutes, it was more like four and a half when Mingyu walked up to him, his apron off. 

“Joshua said I could go early.” He said. “You ready?” 

Truthfully no, Jihoon wasn’t ready, but he nodded anyway and got to his feet.

“You finished the song really fast!” Mingyu remarked as they began to walk, the cafe door jingling behind them. “Especially with how angry you were at it. I’m impressed.”

“I… Yeah, I guess so.” Jihoon said after a moment. “Usually, I work pretty fast once I’m inspired. The first draft of a composition only takes one or two days. I got this written, and then I spent the weekend tweaking it and playing around until I found what I liked the most.” 

He left out the fact that he’d pulled near all-nighters every night as well, that he’d only eaten when one of his roommates remembered that human beings needed food to survive and brought him something. Jihoon tended to forget all human needs when creativity had a hold of him, and this fluffy composition’s vice-grip had been inescapable. 

“You say that like writing a song is easy.” Mingyu said, glancing down at him. Jihoon shrugged.

“It’s definitely not easy, but it--I mean, it’s my favorite thing to do.” Jihoon said. The walk to their apartment was a short one, and Jihoon let himself in, relieved to see that the place looked like it actually was empty, no sign of Junhui anywhere. It was also only a bit of a mess, but not more so than usual, and not in a way that really had Jihoon embarrassed, so he told Mingyu he could sit on the couch while he went to retrieve his laptop from his bedroom. The flash drive was useless now, Jihoon putting it back into his pocket as he pulled the audio file up on his laptop. 

“This isn’t what it’s supposed to sound like as a finished product or anything, because it’s just a demo, and it’s just me in it, so--”

“Wait, you can sing?” Mingyu asked quickly, as Jihoon walked over to sit next to him. 

“I’m a music major.” Jihoon responded. Music Theory, but he liked to sing too. He hadn’t really had any vocal lessons since high school, and suddenly felt much more self-conscious about Mingyu’s expectations. So he just pressed play and put the laptop on the coffee table. 

He tried not to pay attention to Mingyu’s reaction, feeling a little too nervous, but Mingyu was very obviously bopping along, and that was a good sign. When the song was over, Jihoon let himself look at him.

“You--you made this?” Mingyu asked. 

“Why is that such a surprise?” Jihoon asked back.

“It’s just… It’s just so cute, Jihoon!” Mingyu exclaimed, and Jihoon felt his face go pink. “The lyrics; they’re adorable, but they sound so honest, too. And your voice is really good! It’s a lot sweeter than I was expecting.” 

“Okay, you can stop.” Jihoon told him, but the attempted deadpan seemed to have absolutely no effect on the excitement in Mingyu’s voice. 

“Can I hear it again?” 

He was beaming, and Jihoon felt completely powerless to deny him, so he played the song again.

“The beat is so good.” Mingyu said on the second listen. “I mean, it fits really well, but why did you decide to make it so bouncy?”

“I didn’t originally, when I first read the prompt.” Jihoon said. Nothing about the final result was what he’d thought it would be, the song completely new from everything else he’d been trying, and he knew that it had ended up like this all because of Mingyu’s small suggestion. “I didn’t really mean for it to sound like this; it’s weird, because it’s a happy song, but it’s in F minor. That gave me the 4A camelot value to work with, and…” He trailed off, realizing that Mingyu was just fully and completely staring at him. 

“Why did you stop?” Mingyu asked. “Tell me about it.”

He looked genuinely interested, so Jihoon did. He loved talking about music, simply because of how much he _loved_ music, going back through a couple of the parts of the song--the opening, the breakdown at the bridge, the use of a guitar sound at the end--and explaining through them, not really realizing until he was done that he’d been leaning closer almost the entire time, and that Mingyu was just smiling at him as he listened. 

“Sorry.” Jihoon drew as far away as he could on the couch, his body feeling a bit hot under Mingyu’s gaze, and the look in Mingyu’s eyes. “That was all just technical talk, it probably didn’t mean anything to you.”

“If I’m being honest, no. Not really.” Mingyu told him, a bit of a laugh in his voice. “I liked listening, though. It’s really sweet, Jihoon. It’s charming. It’s so obvious that you love what you’re talking about.”

Mingyu had just enjoyed listening to him ramble, listening to him ramble about cutesy song that Jihoon had written with Mingyu’s help. Had written because Mingyu had come up to him, had talked with him and indulged him. Had written _about_ Mingyu. 

Jihoon realized, in that moment, that he was well and truly fucked. 

“Do you--uh--” Mingyu was just sitting in his apartment, just sitting on his couch. He’d just finished a shift at work, Jihoon remembered. “Do you want something to drink? Something to eat?” 

“Oh.” The questions seemed to take Mingyu by surprise. “I… Sure, actually.” 

A quick scan of the kitchen, though, reminded Jihoon that the apartment’s bi-weekly grocery store run was a couple of days away, and the four of them were living on cup ramen until they went shopping. Mingyu seemed shocked by the sorry state of their groceries. 

“What do you eat?” He asked after a moment, and the words made Jihoon laugh.

“Uh… Instant ramen, rice, and Coca-cola, mostly.” He confessed, and Mingyu stared at him. He stared a moment longer when he realized that Jihoon was serious. 

“I can’t let you live like that.” Mingyu declared. “I just can’t.”

“What, are you going to force me to eat?” Jihoon asked.

“If I made a nice, home-cooked meal, would I have to force you?” Mingyu asked back, raising an eyebrow. 

“I mean--I guess not.” Jihoon admitted, and Mingyu smiled. 

“We have to go to the grocery store, then.” He said. “Come on.” 

Not in a million years would Jihoon have expected this to be where the afternoon would lead. He was in a grocery store, walking next to Kim Mingyu as Mingyu talked about food, about colors and flavors and textures, pulling out words like chiffonade and unleavened and jacquarding.

“You’re doing it.” Jihoon told him.

“Doing what?” Mingyu asked back, surprised.

“You’re talking about food the way I talk about music.” 

“Oh.” That seemed to stop Mingyu for a moment. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

Jihoon understood though, about Mingyu saying that he’d liked listening to Jihoon talk. There was a confidence that Mingyu had when he spoke, when he was talking about what he was knowledgeable about. It was pretty hot, actually, despite Jihoon not being able to really confirm or deny what Mingyu was saying, not knowing enough about culinary terms to know whether or not “en papillote” were actually real words or not. And, with how much he loved to eat, Jihoon couldn’t help but wonder if the fact that it was all about food contributed to how sexy it was. Then again, Jihoon found music theory pretty sexy too, so maybe he and Mingyu were matched on that front. 

“I mean, I’ve been cooking on a competitive level since I was sixteen.” Mingyu said. “I’d better know what I’m talking about. That, and one of my majors is Culinary.” 

“Wait, one of?” Jihoon echoed, wondering if he’d heard that right. 

“I’m majoring in Architecture, too.” Mingyu said brightly. “And I’m minoring in Communications and Photography. You know, fun stuff.” 

“Fun stuff.” Jihoon repeated. He felt floored. “Right.” 

“When I got to college, I just wanted to do everything!” Mingyu said happily. “It was hard to narrow it down. I’m probably going to take more than four years, just to get everything I’ll need for my degrees, but that’s alright, I think. It’ll let me take some of the other classes that I’m interested in, things I haven’t managed to try yet.” 

Mingyu seemed to notice, then, that Jihoon was staring at him. 

“What?”

“You’re weird.” 

That just made Mingyu laugh, leaning his body slightly against Jihoon as he did, one of his hands going to Jihoon’s and touching it. The action seemed automatic, done thoughtlessly, but it was enough to freeze Jihoon for a moment, a smile breaking out slowly across his face as he watched Mingyu laugh. 

It felt like a bit of a triumph, making Mingyu laugh, because for some reason that Jihoon couldn’t figure out, he couldn’t help but find Mingyu hilarious. There was something about him, about the way he talked and told stories, the way his face was so animated as he spoke and how he moved his body as he explained things that made it impossible not to find him funny. Part of Jihoon wanted Mingyu to meet and talk to his friends, wanted them to laugh at Mingyu too and give him the peace of mind that he didn’t just find Mingyu funny because he also found Mingyu hot. Most of Jihoon though, was having too good of a time to really care. 

“...you are not going to buy all of that.” Jihoon said in disbelief, when he realized that Mingyu was starting to walk to the checkout and had a shopping cart half filled with food. 

“Sure I am.” Mingyu said. “Don’t worry though; most of it is for me. My roommate will pay me back. He buys and I cook, but I actually like cooking, so it’s a pretty good system.” 

Arms aching from carrying so many grocery bags, they managed to get all of the food back to Jihoon’s apartment, Mingyu quickly stashing the items that needed to stay cold into Jihoon’s refrigerator as he asked what it was he felt like eating. Jihoon didn’t know what to say. 

“I don’t--I don’t know. I’m not picky.” He said. Mingyu raised an eyebrow. 

“Are you actually not picky, or are you someone that actually is picky, but doesn’t want to admit it?” 

“Hey!” Jihoon protested, and Mingyu began to laugh, digging through the bags of groceries.

“Alright.” He said. “I’ll just make something simple, then. I’ll have to dazzle you with my advanced skills some other time. Do you guys have a rice cooker?” 

They did, Jihoon getting it out of a cabinet, Mingyu picking through all the bags of groceries with purpose. He knew exactly what he was looking for, obviously in his element, and it was interesting to watch him. 

“Do you want to put some music on?” Mingyu asked without turning from the stove, and Jihoon realized he’d just been staring at Mingyu’s broad back, glancing away. 

“Yeah. Any requests?” 

Mingyu hummed in thought, Jihoon about to just put on one of his own playlists--everyone liked Bruno Mars and the Jonas Brothers, right?--when Mingyu spoke. 

“What about something else you’ve made?”

“...what?” 

“Another one of your demos.” Mingyu said. 

“Why?”

“I’m cooking for you, so you should play your music for me. I figure it’s only fair.” 

Jihoon couldn’t really argue with that. He made a quick playlist of the ones not too old to be embarrassing, and pressed play. He tried to keep talking, to cover the compositions with conversation, and while it wasn’t very hard--Mingyu was very good at talking, at keeping a conversation going--Jihoon did still catch some of his reactions. During _Come to Me.mp3,_ Mingyu was doing a lot of bopping along; he actually hushed Jihoon during _Pinwheel_ so he could better hear the lyrics, and during _Good to Me_ he pulled out his phone, sent some text messages that Jihoon was too far away to read, and began to stir very vigorously at the beef he was frying on the stove. 

When the playlist of songs Jihoon deemed acceptable ended Jihoon put on some actual music, and was much less embarrassed while he talked, Mingyu taking a moment to bemoan the absence of blush from his cheeks, which had Jihoon walking up and hitting him. The swat on the arm just made Mingyu laugh though, and before Jihoon could do more, someone came through the door. 

It was Junhui, and he looked absolutely wild. His hair was gelled up off his forehead and he had a clear plastic visor on, blue eyeshadow on the upper eyelid of his left eye giving a bit of a fantasy-esque smokey look, the same happening in orange on the lower eyelid of his right eye. He had on a clear plastic rain jacket over a green mesh tanktop, oversized white cargo pants stuffed into combat boots, and a cinched belt showing off his naturally skinny waist. 

Jihoon could only stare at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He had a feeling Mingyu was doing the same next to him, but Junhui didn’t spare them more than a glance, giving a short wave and disappearing into his room. 

“...did I just hallucinate that?” Mingyu asked after a moment. 

“No, uh--” In all honesty, that was a fair question. “That’s my roommate. One of them.” 

Junhui didn’t make himself seen again until a little while later, slipping from his bedroom in a red tracksuit, his hair wet and face bare from a shower. Again, he didn’t say anything; instead, he pulled Jihoon aside for a moment and slipped a condom into his palm, winking in Mingyu’s direction. It was all Jihoon had not to die on the spot. 

Worst of all of it though, was that this condom was one that had gone through the washing machine, and definitely wouldn’t be safe to use. Jihoon tried to discreetly throw it away, but Mingyu opened the trashcan right afterwards to dispose of some eggshells, and raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Did you just put that in there?” 

Jihoon decided in that moment that if the ground opened up and swallowed him, he would never ask for anything ever again. 

“It’s a joke.” He finally said, when the ground had decidedly not swallowed him. “Junhui, he--he thinks that the guy at the Health Services desk is cute, so he goes in there all the time, except he doesn’t have a reason to, so he just picks up condoms. But all of us are single, so now they’re all over the apartment.”

“And you’re throwing them away?” 

“I--well--Soonyoung accidentally put that one through the washing machine.” Jihoon explained. “Wonwoo looked it up and apparently they’re not safe to use after that.” 

“Right.” Mingyu said with a laugh. “Don’t want to get anyone pregnant.” 

“That’s not--that usually isn’t a concern when--” Jihoon was still floundering, even more embarrassed, and Mingyu had his eyebrows raised. He decided to just be blunt. “I’m gay.” 

“Oh!” Mingyu smiled a bit. “That’s good to know.” 

Before Jihoon could read into what _that_ was supposed to mean, the front door opened again. 

“We adopted some cats!” Soonyoung announced, seeming like he’d already begun talking before he’d even looked inside the apartment, yelling loudly enough for Jihoon to have been able to hear him even if he was in his bedroom with the door closed. There were not, however, any live animals; Wonwoo had one cat plushie under each arm, and Soonyoung was squeezing a toy tiger about the size of his abdomen to his chest. Then he noticed who was actually in the room, and his eyes lit up.

“Mingyu!” 

Mingyu, still standing at the stove, held up his free arm and Soonyoung snuggled himself under it, laughing as Mingyu gave him a squeeze. Something that Jihoon did not allow himself to call jealousy ran through his stomach. 

“Good to see you again.” Wonwoo said, giving a small wave, while Mingyu nodded at him in recognition. Jihoon had no idea that they’d ever met each other. “What are you guys up to?”

“I’m just cooking some food for Jihoon.” Mingyu replied easily, like that was normal, and Wonwoo sidled up to Jihoon, an eyebrow raised. 

“Is this what you wanted the apartment empty for?” He asked under his breath. He had a smirk on his face, and Jihoon stepped on his foot. 

“Is Junnie back?” Soonyoung asked. “He was supposed to be home from that modeling job by now.”

“If you’re talking about the weird tall guy, then yeah.” Mingyu said. He pulled a bowl out of the cabinet, setting it down in front of the rice cooker before pointing in the direction of Junhui’s room. “He went that way.”

“Oh, he met Junhui?” Wonwoo asked. “How did that go?” 

Mingyu went still, and before Jihoon could answer, he spoke. 

“Wait. Could I have his name one more time?”

Wonwoo told him, and Mingyu started laughing so hard that he fell to his knees. 

“...Mingyu?” Jihoon couldn’t help but ask, and there were tears in Mingyu’s eyes when he was able to respond, his breath coming in whines and gasps as he got to his feet. 

“There’s this--there’s this person that my friend group has taken to calling ‘Condom Guy’, and…” 

Mingyu told the tale, and it had all of them laughing, Jihoon surprised to learn that he’d actually heard of Minghao before, Vernon’s roommate and close friend. It really was a hilarious story, Soonyoung completely appalled that their apartment was drowning in condoms because Junhui couldn’t talk to a guy he thought was cute, Mingyu dishing out the food he’d made for Jihoon into a bowl as he spoke and handing it to him. 

It was just bibimbap, but it looked and smelled amazing, and Jihoon couldn’t ignore the way Mingyu seemed to be holding his breath as Jihoon got some food between his chopsticks and brought it to his mouth. 

“Mingyu, this…” It truly was endearing, the way Mingyu was hanging on his words; part of Jihoon really, really wanted to tease him, to draw the evaluation out, but he figured that he and Mingyu didn’t quite know each other well enough yet. “This is the best food I’ve ever had.” 

“Really?” The joy and excitement at the compliment was palpable, and Jihoon could almost see upright puppy ears and a wagging tail on him. 

“Really.” Jihoon said. “Seriously.” To his surprise, Mingyu wrapped an arm around him, leaning down to give him a tight squeeze. Over Mingyu’s shoulder, Jihoon could see Wonwoo and Soonyoung giving him equally teasing grins.

Mingyu stayed a little longer while Jihoon ate, and though Jihoon wasn’t just alone with him anymore, Mingyu got along well with Soonyoung and Wonwoo, so it was fun. When it was time for him to leave he gathered up his groceries, and Jihoon walked him to the door. Mingyu paused once he’d stepped out into the hallway, turning. 

“Here.” Jihoon said. He’d had the flash drive in his pocket the whole time, and he pulled it out, giving it over to Mingyu. “If--I mean, if you want it.”

“I’d love it, really. Thank you.” Mingyu pocketed the flash drive, shifting his grocery bags around in his hands. He still wasn’t walking off, fidgeting a bit instead, prompting Jihoon to ask. 

“What?” 

“I just…” Mingyu glanced over Jihoon’s shoulder, and through the open apartment door Jihoon could see Soonyoung and Wonwoo, both of them sitting on the couch and blatantly watching them. Soonyoung waved. Jihoon shut the door. 

“You alright?” Jihoon asked. 

“I just--I wanted to clarify. Just in case. You know, be clear with my intentions.” Mingyu looked nervous, despite how relaxed he’d been all day. “Just so that you know. I… I have been flirting with you.” 

Heat rushed into Jihoon’s face, his ears burning. Mingyu leaned down a bit, looking concerned now.

“Is that alright?” He asked. Jihoon couldn’t manage anything more than a nod and then, gathering up his courage--and because Mingyu’s face was now close enough, if he got up on the balls of his feet--he kissed Mingyu on the cheek. 

And then all of his strength left him, because he’d never been confident when it came to flirting and relationships, running into his apartment and shutting the door. 

“Lee Jihoon!” Soonyoung exclaimed, when he saw the downright painful blush on his face. “What happened?” 

Jihoon didn’t answer, so Soonyoung ran to the door and looked out the peephole. 

“Mingyu’s just standing there… Wow, his face is so red. His _ears_ are so red. He’s just… He’s touching his cheek?” Soonyoung sent another questioning look Jihoon’s way, Wonwoo pushing Soonyoung aside so he could look through the peephole too. 

“Wow, he’s smiling so much it looks like his face is going to split in half.” Wonwoo remarked. Jihoon felt a smile growing on his lips too, and he covered his face with his hands.

  
  


Seungcheol was about to enter the Athletic Center and pick Jeonghan up from tennis practice. 

Seungcheol was also very, very nervous. 

He was excited to see Jeonghan. He was always excited to see Jeonghan, and this was going to be a sweaty, fresh-from-practice Jeonghan, a side of him that Seungcheol had never seen before. He just wasn’t sure, in pretending to be Jeonghan’s boyfriend, what exactly was going to be expected from him. 

A hug? Handholding? A kiss was probably too extreme for what was meant to be casual PDA, but they were trying to put on a show for Lawn Chair Dude, so Seungcheol didn’t think he could fully rule it out. 

He pulled out his phone, wanting perhaps to text his friends for emotional support, but the last few messages into their group chat didn’t give much indication that any of them would actually be helpful. 

_From: Vernon  
_ _Guys guys who is ha:tfelt??? Seungkwan says if i don’t know he’s gonna strangle me_

_From: Myungho  
_ _lmaoooooo condom guy just left the photoshoot with all his makeup still on. he’s totally gonna get stopped by campus security_

_From: Mingyu  
_ _Jihoon is letting me hear more of his music his voice is so amazing  
_ _WAIT these lyrics are so sad :((((  
_ _WHY IS THIS NEXT SONG SEXY WHY DOES HE SOUND SO SEXY  
_ _QUICK QUESTION HOW DO I POLITELY ASK LEE JIHOON TO RAIL ME_

Yeah, no. None of his friends would be helpful, least of all Mingyu. Seungcheol just swallowed, slipped his phone into his pocket, and went inside. 

There were supposed to be twenty minutes of practice left and sure enough, all of the players were on the court. Unfortunately, he spotted Lawn Chair Dude first, as he was on the other side of the net and facing Seungcheol. He was very focused, his hair stuck to his neck with sweat, and Seungcheol felt a thread of animosity curl in his stomach. 

Jeonghan was a bit harder to find, since he was facing away; the coach called for a quick water break, and Seungcheol was able to catch Jeonghan’s side profile. He waved his arms a bit, trying to catch Jeonghan’s attention, and when he did he was rewarded with a dazzling smile that had his heart speeding up in his chest. 

Jeonghan was gorgeous. There was no other word Seungcheol could think of. He was covered in a light sheen of sweat, his skin almost seeming to glow with the shine of the overhead lights. His hair was damp and a little mussed up, and his mouth opened, his lips parting a little as he smiled at Seungcheol. Seungcheol smiled back. 

Seungcheol had been pretty sure, for nineteen whole years of his life, that he was straight. He knew he liked girls, and wanted to have a girlfriend, and loved how pretty they were. Then, the summer before his first semester of college he’d met a very pretty boy named Choi Minki, and his entire world had been flipped upside down. 

They’d barely been friends, and they hadn’t dated. Seungcheol was pretty sure that Minki hadn’t even had any idea about the crush Seungcheol had on him. But it had been there, so blushy and strong that Seungcheol couldn’t even try to deny it, and a good amount of self reflection had been in order instead. 

He’d dated both boys and girls upon coming to the university, finding that he liked just about anyone, as long as they were pretty. And Jeonghan was pretty, no doubt about that, but there was an undeniably masculine air to him too, in the shape of his eyes and the line of his jaw, that made him absolutely captivating. 

Seungcheol watched the end of practice, so caught up in it that he almost forgot why he was there. When the coach deemed it over Jeonghan rushed to him, one hand extended, his tennis racket in the other. He was beaming, sweaty and happy, his body lax with the comfortable and well-earned tiredness of physical exercise, holding Seungcheol’s hand and leaning in close and pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“Hi, boyfriend.” He said, the words sounding slightly teasing, and Seungcheol couldn’t help the smile on his face. 

“Hey.” 

“You…” Jeonghan gave him an up-and-down, the look seemingly starting as a joke, but ending more seriously as he took in Seungcheol’s ball cap, tanktop, and jeans. “Trying to show off?”

Seungcheol knew Jeonghan was talking about the open cut of his shirt, and he felt his ears burn. He tried not to show it, though. 

“A little, yeah.”

Jeonghan grinned, something about the expression almost wicked, and Seungcheol had the thought that he probably shouldn’t find the look cute, but did anyway.

“Good. I need to help clean and gather my things and then we can go, okay?”

Seungcheol nodded, watching Jeonghan walk off. Then he remembered that he was trying to protect Jeonghan from the Lawn Chair Dude, and he was about to just let Jeonghan disappear into the locker room with the Lawn Chair Dude, so he jogged up to him. 

“Can I uh, help or something?” 

Jeonghan laughed a little. 

“Sure.” He said. “Go pick up some tennis balls.” 

They got the court cleaned quickly, Seungcheol introducing himself to some of Jeonghan’s other teammates. He was, however, decidedly not allowed into the locker room, hanging by the door as he waited for Jeonghan to reemerge. 

“--and I told you not to touch me!” Came a shout, a shout that was obviously Jeonghan’s voice, Seungcheol about to say rules be damned and go into the locker room anyway when Jeonghan burst outside. He was moving quickly, walking backwards, and he bumped hard into Seungcheol’s chest; Seungcheol wrapped an arm around him to catch him, holding him close. Lawn Chair Dude followed, stopping in his tracks when he saw Seungcheol right behind the door. 

“What happened?” Seungcheol asked, too concerned to try looking tough, leaning in close to Jeonghan and looking him over. Jeonghan didn’t answer though, still glaring at Lawn Chair Dude. 

“Hey listen, I just think--” The guy started, and a spark of anger burned in Seungcheol’s stomach. 

“No.” He said, cutting the man off with a pointed finger. With his free hand, he rubbed his thumb across the fabric of Jeonghan’s shirt, his palm open on Jeonghan’s stomach. “It doesn’t matter what you think. It doesn’t matter what you want. He doesn’t want your attention, and he’s made that clear. You aren’t going to talk to him. You aren’t going to touch him, and if you do, I will find out.”

The threat went unspoken, but Seungcheol knew that the guy understood it, staring back for just a moment before breaking eye contact and retreating into the locker room. A small crowd had formed, but Seungcheol didn’t care about them, turning Jeonghan in his arms, one hand on each side of Jeonghan’s waist so he could look at his face. 

“Are you alright? What did he do?” 

“He…” Jeonghan’s face was pink, and he placed his hands on Seungcheol’s forearms. “He didn’t do anything, he was just… Just talking to me. About me. And I knew you were outside, so I came out here in the middle of telling him off. I didn’t mean to--” Jeonghan cut himself off and restarted, putting one hand to the side of Seungcheol’s face. “Sorry for scaring you.” 

Jeonghan saying that he was okay--and the words being confirmed by the way he looked, his body unscathed and free of any of the adrenaline that came with fear or anxiety--had the whole situation replaying in Seungcheol’s head, and the crowd they had around them had him flushing in embarrassment.

“You can’t blush and cover your face after acting all tough!” Jeonghan protested with a laugh, because Seungcheol had ducked his head. “Come on, let’s go.” 

Jeonghan put his tennis bag on Seungcheol’s shoulder without asking, taking his hand, and they left the Athletic Center together. 

“I’ll be surprised if he bothers me after that.” Jeonghan said, after they’d taken a few steps in silence. “I want to keep you around a little longer though, just so he won’t be suspicious. If that’s okay.”

It was okay. Jeonghan was holding his hand. It was more than okay.

“Sorry for making a scene. I keep--I keep doing that.” 

“It’s not your fault.” Jeonghan told him. “It’s not your fault that he only listens to you and not me because he thinks that you can beat him up, and thinks that I can’t.”

“Can you?” Seungcheol asked in surprise. Jeonghan laughed a little and, since he was holding Seungcheol’s hand with his left, swept out his other arm in an adorable right hook.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t gotten into a fight since middle school.”

“You--wait, what?” 

“Yeah.” Jeonghan laughed, letting his head fall back slightly. “I had to get braces because I got punched in the face so hard that it messed up my teeth.” 

Those words had Seungcheol’s mouth falling open. 

“Seriously?” He asked in shock, and Jeonghan laughed again, nodding. “I’ve never been in a fight! You’re the one between the two of us that he needs to look out for.” 

“What, these muscles are all for show?” Jeonghan asked, poking Seungcheol’s bicep. 

“Of course not. I’m really good at carrying things.” Seungcheol responded, getting the sense that Jeonghan was still teasing him, pointing to the tennis bag over his shoulder. “I can also open jars. I chopped firewood once.” 

“Well, aren’t I lucky.” Jeonghan said. His voice was still light; still teasing. “I’m in very capable hands.” 

Seungcheol ducked his chin so Jeonghan couldn’t see him smiling, but Jeonghan seemed to misread his action. 

“I can take the bag, if you want.”

“No!” Seungcheol exclaimed quickly, holding the strap with a hand. “I've got it.” 

“Good, because I’m so tired.” Jeonghan said, the words more of a sigh. “I’m going to go home and lie down.” 

“Was practice hard?” Seungcheol asked, but Jeonghan shook his head. 

“No. I’m just tired.” 

He didn’t elaborate and Seungcheol didn’t really know how to respond, having half a mind to maybe offer to carry Jeonghan or something when Jeonghan let out a bit of a sigh. 

“It’s called chronic fatigue syndrome.” He said. “Mine is pretty mild, and I can manage it, but I just didn’t sleep well last night. I actually wanted to take you out later, but we might have to postpone it to some other time.” He glanced over at Seungcheol. “Is that okay?” 

“Of course it is!” Seungcheol said quickly, making a mental note to look into what chronic fatigue syndrome was. “You were going to take me somewhere?” 

“Of course. What couple doesn’t go on dates?” Jeonghan asked, the smile back on his face. Seungcheol made sure to repeat his _this is fake, this is fake_ mantra in his head just a little bit louder. “Maybe this weekend, if you’re free?” 

“Okay.” Seungcheol didn’t actually know if he was free or not, but whatever else he might have on his schedule could definitely be postponed. 

“I need pictures for you for instagram.” Jeonghan explained. “He doesn’t follow me on there, but he always likes the photos I post that have my face in them.”

“Shouldn’t you block him?” Seungcheol asked, knowing they were talking about Lawn Chair Dude. Jeonghan grinned. It was that devious grin again, and Seungcheol had to fully admit then that he loved the expression.

“I will.” Jeonghan said. “I just want to show you off first.” 

“Then we can--um--” The idea of being the pretty thing on Jeonghan’s arm was going to make Seungcheol fall over if he thought about it too hard. “We can take some pictures today then, if you want to.” 

“Hm.” Jeonghan looked over him for a moment. “Yeah, okay.” 

It was silly, and a bit embarrassing, trying to think up poses that they wanted to do. It was fun at the same time though, and Jeonghan seemed to take every opportunity he could find to be teasing. They took pictures of their entwined hands, of their shadows, and candids of each other laughing and smiling, which were actually much harder to pose for than Seungcheol thought they would be. They made it all the way to Jeonghan’s apartment building, Jeonghan promising to post the pictures once he’d gotten inside. 

Seungcheol’s ball cap had fallen off in all the mess of posing and teasing, Jeonghan laughing at his hair while Seungcheol tried to fix it with his fingers, pulling the cap over Jeonghan’s head in retaliation.

“Hey!” Jeonghan exclaimed, but he didn’t try to move away or take the hat off; he readjusted it on his head instead. “Well? Does it look good on me?”

Seungcheol wasn’t sure he could answer without embarrassing himself, but thankfully he didn’t need to, Jeonghan continuing without waiting for a response. 

“I have an idea. C’mere.” He said, gesturing, and Seungcheol walked up curiously. “This picture might be hard to take, but it’ll be perfect.”

“What is it?” Seungcheol asked. Jeonghan leaned in close.

“A kiss.” He said. Then he held up his phone, angling it towards their faces, and got just a little closer.

“You’re going to--you want me to--”

“Not really.” Jeonghan gave a light, relaxed laugh, but he was so close that Seungcheol could feel the warm air of the exhale on his lips. “I’ll just hold the hat in front of us. It’ll be cute though, right?” 

Seungcheol couldn’t do more than nod, and Jeonghan checked his phone position once more before holding the hat up. He had to get very close, so close that their noses almost touched, and there was the telltale camera shutter sound. 

“Perfect on the first try!” Jeonghan said happily, pulling the hat back over his head. Then he slipped his phone into his pocket, sliding his hand into Seungcheol’s and giving it a quick squeeze before letting go completely. 

“Thanks for walking me home.” He said. “I’ll see you this weekend?” 

“Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll text you the details later; we can choose a meeting spot and a time, stuff like that.” 

Seungcheol nodded, then Jeonghan took his tennis bag from Seungcheol’s shoulder and disappeared into his apartment. It took ten full minutes for Seungcheol to realize that Jeonghan had completely stolen his hat. 

It took over half an hour for Jeonghan to make his post on instagram. Seungcheol had some photos to post too, but had planned on waiting until Jeonghan did it first, wanting to see how Jeonghan captioned them and what he said. When Jeonghan posted, Seungcheol was in the student lounge in their dorm with his friends, Mingyu actually using the small kitchenette in the building to cook instead of trying to set his desk on fire. Though maybe he was trying to set the entire dorm on fire, because instead of looking at the pan he had on the stove, he was looking at his phone. 

“Seungcheol!” He yelped. At least, Seungcheol assumed the strangled mess of noise was his name; it was hard to tell, because Mingyu’s voice had gone up a couple of octaves and he was speaking through his fingers. 

“What?” He asked, Vernon asking the same thing, and since Vernon was sitting up on the counter next to Mingyu and Seungcheol was outside the kitchenette on the couch in the study room with Minghao, Mingyu showed his phone screen to Vernon first. Vernon went from curious to so comically surprised that he looked almost like an animated character, his mouth opening, his eyebrows raising, his eyes going wide.

“What?” Seungcheol asked again, the chaos finally enough for Minghao to glance up from his phone. 

“You’re dating Jeonghan?” Vernon asked back. “When did that happen?” 

“What?!” Minghao’s voice was loud, and he jumped up from the couch to get a look at Mingyu’s screen, moving so quickly that Seungcheol would have missed it if he blinked. Mingyu turned his screen towards Minghao, Seungcheol able to see that he had instagram open, quickly opening the app himself. 

Jeonghan had posted the pictures. There were three of them, and Seungcheol was surprised to say that he liked them. The first one was actually a picture of him, midstep towards Jeonghan and smiling; they’d been making each other laugh, and that’s what Seungcheol was doing in the photo, but he had his head down a bit, the cap covering his eyes, but his nose, mouth, and dimples were full on display. The next picture was of their shadows, focused on their entwined hands, and the last, of course, was the kissing photo with the hat. The three pictures were three separate posts, with three separate captions. All were very simple. 

_1004_yjh: you’re cute._ Then, _i like you._ The last caption was simply the kiss emoji. All three had his instagram handle tagged in them, followed by a red heart emoji, the same emoji he’d put on both sides of Seungcheol’s contact name in his phone.

Seungcheol felt like his ears were on fire. 

“You finally asked him out?” Minghao asked. “When? How? How did this happen? How am I the person here out of the four of us with the best fashion sense, and all I’m getting is weird compliments from Condom Guy?” 

“We’re still calling him Condom Guy?” Vernon asked back, surprised, but Minghao didn’t answer. He was staring Seungcheol down. Mingyu was still staring at his phone. 

“It’s not--I didn’t--”

_“He_ asked _you?”_ Minghao seemed flabbergasted, and honestly it stung a bit that Minghao was so shocked at the idea of Jeonghan asking him out. 

“I’m--okay, not really, but…” Seungcheol didn’t know how to phrase it. “We’re not actually… We’re not dating.”

“What, you haven’t made it official or something?” Vernon asked. “Because you might as well. Look at these pictures.”

“No. We’re not dating at all. He’s not--he doesn’t like me.” 

“How did you get this far in life without learning how to read?” Minghao asked, pulling Mingyu’s phone from his hand--Mingyu yelped in protest--and shoving the screen in Seungcheol’s face. “This literally says ‘I like you’. I don’t even speak Korean, and I know that it doesn’t get clearer than that.” 

“I’m sure he meant it as a friend!” Seungcheol said, and Minghao looked ready and willing to slap him, so Seungcheol shielded his face with his hands as he finished his explanation. “There’s this guy on his tennis team harassing him, and he asked me to just stand-in as his boyfriend to scare the guy off. It’s all an act! We’re trying to look convincing.” 

“Stupid.” Minghao declared.

“Romantic!” Mingyu exclaimed. Vernon was just shaking his head a bit. “This is your chance! You have to prove how perfect of a boyfriend you are, and then ask him out for real.”

“He’s doing all of this because he was getting unwanted attention.” Seungcheol protested. “I’m not going to--to take advantage of him and do the same thing.” 

Minghao thumbed over to the kissing picture. “This doesn’t look unwanted.” He said. Seungcheol glanced away.

“We weren’t--he’s not actually kissing me.” 

“Besides, he likes your arms.” Mingyu chimed in. “He told me that once.”

He’d told Seungcheol that, too. Seungcheol tapped the icon on his phone screen to make a new instagram post. He only had two photos, and put them together in the same post; a close up of their entwined hands, and a picture of Jeonghan laughing, a picture that Seungcheol was trying very hard not to make his phone background. It was a genuine laugh, Jeonghan’s eyes disappearing, his mouth opening, his nose scrunched up while his head tilted slightly to the right. The wind had messed his hair up a bit, everything about the photo candid and perfect. 

_coups_cheol: An angel!_

He added Jeonghan’s instagram handle, then put an emoji too, debating for a while before settling on the pink one with the yellow ribbon wrapped around it. Yellow and pink felt like fitting colors for Jeonghan. 

Vernon liked the post. Mingyu liked the post. Minghao mimed throwing up, then liked the post too. A few minutes later, Seungcheol got a notification; a comment on the photos.

_1004_yjh: your angel._

He’d added the red heart emoji again. Red was officially Seungcheol’s favorite color. 

Roughly thirty minutes later, Jeonghan texted him.

_We look so cute together! Wanna have brunch on Saturday?_

Fake. This was fake. This was _fake._

_Brunch?_ Seungcheol asked back. 

_I would say breakfast, but I think I’ll want to sleep in._

That made Seungcheol smile. _Sure. Brunch on Saturday._

_And bring a hoodie of yours!!!_

Seungcheol hadn’t expected that. _A hoodie? To brunch?_

_I want to steal it._ The text message had an accompanying emoji, the smirking devil emoji, and Seungcheol could just imagine the look on Jeonghan’s face. Embarrassingly, he felt himself melt a little bit. 

_Fine. A hoodie._

Jeonghan sent the smiling angel emoji this time, and Seungcheol resisted the urge to laugh, though he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. 

  
  


“He did it.” 

Seokmin’s voice was faint with surprise, the tone enough for Seungkwan to glance up from the numbers he was pouring over. It would be close, but it looked like the Pride Club would be able to do that whole ‘paint your own flower pot’ thing Seokmin had wanted to do. 

“Who did what?” Chan asked. He was sitting on Seokmin’s bed--after being forcibly shoved off of Seungkwan’s bed and onto the floor--doing homework. He’d been spending a decent amount of time with them after they’d properly met, Seungkwan genuinely considering him a friend and enjoying his company. He wouldn’t be caught dead admitting that, though. 

“Seungkwan, do you remember? That guy from instagram that Jeonghan said he liked? He did it.” Seokmin said. “I think they’re dating now.” 

“What?!” Seungkwan grabbed at his phone, unlocking it. “Where? How? Did he text you?” 

“It’s on instagram.” Seokmin said. Sure enough, it was on instagram, three very cute pictures in a row of Jeonghan and that Gym Selfie Guy, all of them tagged with _coups_cheol._ Seungkwan covered his mouth with his hand.

“What?” Chan asked. “I wanna see.” 

Chan didn’t know Jeonghan, as far as Seungkwan knew, but Seungkwan showed him the posts anyway. Chan gave an appreciative nod, while Seungkwan sighed and flopped face-first on top of his spreadsheets.

“Does…” Chan glanced quickly and questioningly at Seokmin. “Does this make you sad for some reason?”

“Yes!” Seungkwan lamented, rolling onto his back, hearing the papers crinkle under him and not caring. 

“Do you…” Everything about Chan was hesitant. “Do you like Jeonghan?”

Seungkwan didn’t even want to justify that with a response, so Chan tried again.

“You like Bicep Dude?”

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you?” Seungkwan asked, Chan’s mouth falling open in offense.

“How does this make me an idiot? You’re the one that’s about to fall off your bed. It’s not my fault if you like, break your arm or something.” 

“I just…” Seungkwan let out a heavy sigh. The exhale had him rolling, just slightly, and he realized that he actually was in danger of almost falling off his bed, sitting up instead. “I haven’t gone further than a first date my entire time being here. I’m like-- _so_ single. It just…”

Seungkwan knew that he should be focusing on school. That he needed to think of himself first, put himself first, and succeed. That grades were more important than boys. 

But Seungkwan really, really liked boys. 

“It sucks, that’s all.” 

“Hey, the auction thing is soon though.” Seokmin pointed out, giving Seungkwan a smile. He’d heard Seungkwan despair over being single multiple times in the past few months; Seungkwan found it a blessing that Seokmin wasn’t annoyed with him. “Maybe something will happen with that!” 

“Maybe.” Seungkwan said, frowning. Truth be told, the more he thought about the auction date, the less excited he was for it. He didn’t want to go out with some random stranger, even if it was for a good cause. Just the thought had nerves curling in his stomach, and he forced them down. “That’s still months away, though.” 

“Well, let’s go out tonight then!” Chan exclaimed. 

“Tonight?” Seungkwan asked. “I--Chan, it’s Thursday.” 

“So?” Chan asked back. “Bars are open on Thursday. There are gay bars around here, right?” 

“...yeah.” Seungkwan couldn’t see why Chan didn’t think this was a crazy idea. “Still though--” 

“Come on!” Chan said happily, getting to his feet and slapping Seungkwan on the shoulder. “I’ll be your wingman. Let’s hit some boners, bro!” 

Seokmin doubled over in laughter, Seungkwan staring at Chan in shock. 

“Is that--you--do you talk to all gay people like this?” He finally decided to ask. “Or is it just to torture me, specifically?” 

“I’m sorry!” Chan exclaimed, but he was laughing too. “I’m--hey! I’m trying, okay?” 

Chan was though, he was genuinely trying, Seungkwan knowing that the offer had been a genuine one, and he let out a sigh. 

“You are. I’m sorry. I appreciate your enthusiasm.” He reached out, wrapping his arms around Chan’s middle and giving him a squeeze. “It’s just my first instinct to be mean to you.” 

Chan reached down and patted Seungkwan’s head. “I know it is.”

“Plus, the whole thing… Meeting someone, getting to know them, being all nervous… Ugh!” Seungkwan let go of Chan so he could throw himself onto his bed again. “Would you really go to a gay bar with me?” 

He knew that Seokmin would--Seokmin had in the past, spending the entire night keeping an eye on Seungkwan and flustering up whenever he was hit on. 

“Sure!” Chan said happily. “I like attention. I’m like a firefighter; I turn the hoes on.” 

Seungkwan knew the phrase was a joke, but blinked up at Chan anyway, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of laughing at it. 

“I literally hate you.” He said instead. Chan grinned cheekily at him. 

“I hated you first, but copying is flattery, so I’ll take it.” 

“What about Vernon?” Seokmin piped up from his desk chair. “You’ve been talking to him recently, haven’t you?” 

Vernon. Seungkwan felt his face go a bit warm, knowing that the blush was actually showing on his cheeks when Chan began to giggle at him. 

“Shut up.” He told Chan. “Vernon is… I mean, he’s nice?” 

After meeting up once at the radio station, he and Vernon texted every once and awhile, making light, inconsequential conversation every couple of days. It was fun, and Vernon was kind and funny, and Seungkwan was trying very, very hard to just be Vernon’s friend. Vernon only ever acted friendly with him, so Seungkwan didn’t want to make any assumptions.

Which was difficult because Vernon was, without exaggeration, the most attractive person Seungkwan had ever met in his life. 

“Just nice?” Chan asked. 

“I’m not telling you a single thing.” Seungkwan said. Chan pouted. 

“Why?”

“Because you two work together, and you love to embarrass me.”

“But I introduced you guys to each other!”

“Yes, thank you very much for that, now shut up.” Seungkwan said. “It’s not like we’ve met up since then, though.”

“You could ask him out.” Seokmin suggested, and Seungkwan blanched. “Not like that! Just like, to get coffee and hang out? As friends?” 

“But that still sounds like a date!” Seungkwan whined. “Besides, he has his own life, and his own friends, it’s not like he would want--”

Seungkwan’s phone went off. The sound wasn’t what made him stop talking though; he’d seen the screen. He had a text from Vernon, the message short, simple, and completely panic-inducing. 

_Hey, are you busy right now?_

Seungkwan shoved his phone screen in Seokmin’s face. 

“Well?” Seokmin asked. “Are you busy?”

“I… No? I guess?”

“So tell him that?”

Seungkwan did. Vernon’s response only took a couple of minutes. 

_I’m not busy either. Do you want to hang out?_

Seungkwan sent back _Yeah!,_ and then spent about two minutes wondering if the exclamation point made him seem too eager. Vernon asked if he wanted to meet at a convenience store just off campus, Seungkwan agreeing readily. 

_I’m fifteen minutes away, so I’ll start walking now, okay?_

The convenience store was only five minutes away from Seungkwan’s dorm room, and for that he was grateful; it gave him ten minutes to change his outfit and panic. 

“What should I wear?” Seungkwan asked. “How casual is this supposed to be?” 

Both Seokmin and Chan fell into thought, Chan gasping in inspiration just a moment later. 

“Wear something that makes your butt look good.” 

“That’s not helpful!” Seungkwan whined at him. “All of my clothes make my butt look good.” 

“Something that you feel comfortable in.” Seokmin said, fishing through Seungkwan’s closet. Ten minutes later found Seungkwan on the way to the convenience store in ripped jeans and a button up, equal parts anxious and excited. He was happy to be seeing Vernon again, and a bit confused as to why Vernon wanted to see him at all. 

They ended up approaching the convenience store in opposite directions, and Seungkwan saw Vernon first, who was looking down at his phone in his hand. He was dressed even more simply than Seungkwan was, in jeans that looked baggy on purpose and a pullover hoodie, though the light pink beanie on his head was immediately eye-catching. Seungkwan let himself watch Vernon walk up as he approached, then Vernon glanced ahead, met his eyes, and his face broke out into a smile. 

They were still a good ways away, Seungkwan surprised when Vernon broke out into a bit of a jog to catch up to him faster. He even passed the convenience store doors, coming to a stop in front of Seungkwan, still smiling. 

“Hey.” He said, and it took Seungkwan a moment to find his tongue. Yes, the pink beanie was eye-catching, but that wasn’t all it did; the pink color looked good against his skin, and with his hair off his forehead and out of his face, Vernon’s eyebrows were on display. Seungkwan didn’t really think he had a thing for eyebrows, but it was a little hard not to stare at them, especially with the cute faded scar cutting into the right side of his forehead. 

“Hi.” Seungkwan responded, finding it impossible not to smile back. “Sorry if--if this is weird, but… Why did you want to see me?” 

He regretted the question as soon as he asked it; it felt desperate, just a little, but Vernon just shrugged a bit, his lips pouting up as he put his hands in his pockets. 

“I was thinking about you.” Vernon said, the words casual, like they wouldn’t echo in Seungkwan’s mind for the next week straight. “You know, about how we haven’t really hung out since you were on the radio with me. So I figured I would ask you if you were busy.” 

“I wasn’t.” Seungkwan said. Those words made him feel stupid too, because that was obvious enough--he’d told Vernon as much, and he was standing here now--but Vernon didn’t berate him, or make fun of him. He just smiled again.

“I know. Good thing.” 

“Yeah.” Again, Seungkwan smiled back. “Good thing.” 

“Ice cream?” Vernon offered, jerking his thumb behind him in the direction of the convenience store. Seungkwan nodded, and they went inside. 

He had no idea what he was supposed to talk about with Vernon, and he kind of hated it. It had always been so easy on the phone, so easy and fun to talk to Vernon, but now he was in front of Vernon, and he was all nervous and flustered, afraid of making a fool of himself. They picked out their frozen treats, Seungkwan actually getting himself a small cup of ice cream, Vernon opting for a fruit popsicle. 

“You have to promise not to tell my roommate about this.” Vernon said, his voice lowered a bit, leaning close in a slightly conspiratorial way as they passed their treats to the cashier. Vernon already had his wallet out, so Seungkwan decided not to put up a fight about paying.

“What? Why?” Seungkwan narrowed his eyes. “Should I be worried?”

The ice cream was paid for, Vernon handing Seungkwan’s to him with a laugh. It was one of the ice cream cups with the little wooden spoon attached, Vernon discarding his popsicle wrapper at the same time Seungkwan threw away his ice cream lid, and they began walking down the street together.

“He’d get annoyed. He thinks I shouldn’t eat or drink anything that’s cold.” As if in defiance, Vernon put the popsicle in his mouth for a moment. It was cherry red, and would probably stain his lips and tongue. “He’s really health-focused.”

“Is cold stuff supposed to be bad for you?” Seungkwan asked back, and Vernon shrugged. 

“I don’t know. I don’t think so, but he doesn’t even drink ice water.”

“Wait, really?” 

“Yup!” Vernon grinned at the disbelief at Seungkwan’s voice, and Seungkwan let the wooden spoon rest against his bottom lip for a moment. 

“Don’t tell him that I drink iced coffee every day then, or he might not let you hang out with me anymore.” He said, and Vernon laughed a little.

“Oh?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. “Are you going to be a bad influence on me?”

Seungkwan couldn’t help the way his cheeks went pink, unable to think of a witty response. He hit Vernon’s arm instead. 

“Stop.” 

Vernon raised his eyebrows, mock shock on his face at being scolded, and put the popsicle in his mouth again, as if to say _my lips are sealed._ Seungkwan rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, but the act didn’t last long, both of them laughing just a moment later. 

“And here I thought that my friend Joshua was weird.” Seungkwan said. “With health stuff. Or, it’s his mom, I guess; she always sends him weird herbal drinks and supplements, things like that. And I take supplements, but some of the ingredients in those things aren’t even words, I think.”

“Wait, Joshua?” Vernon asked. “Like Joshua Hong?” 

“...yes?” Seungkwan couldn’t help his surprise. “Do you know him?” 

“Kind of.” Vernon answered. “I’ve met him before. He seems really cool. We’re going to hang out next week.” 

“You’re friends with Mingyu, Joshua, and Chan?” Seungkwan asked, stunned. “How did you know so many of my friends before you met me?” 

“Small world, I guess.” It was a little odd, how often Seungkwan glanced over to find Vernon already looking at him, but Seungkwan couldn’t say he didn’t like it. “Good thing we’re becoming friends now then, right?” 

“Yeah.” _Friends._ “Good thing.” 

Seungkwan didn’t realize until they were halfway through their frozen treats that he hadn’t taken any photos yet to commemorate the occasion. He pulled his cell phone out, requesting they take some selfies, Vernon agreeing readily. The sun had set so the lighting wasn’t great, having to find a streetlight and stand under it in a way that didn’t wash them out or cast them into shadow. 

“Are you going to smile?” Seungkwan asked, nudging Vernon in the ribs with his elbow when he’d been holding the phone up in front of their faces for nearly a full minute and Vernon had his expression blank, his half-melted popsicle up by his face.

“Nope.” Vernon answered, so Seungkwan schooled his face into something neutral as well, both of them laughing at the deadpan picture that resulted. The refusal to smile had obviously been a joke, because Vernon beamed in the next picture, Seungkwan doing the same. Then Vernon scrunched up his face, sticking his tongue out, showing off how deeply red his mouth had become. Seungkwan tried to make a face too but Vernon’s was too silly, and he ended up laughing instead as the shutter went off. 

“So wait.” Seungkwan was satisfied with the pictures, and they began walking again. “If you’ve met all of my friends, do you know Yoon Jeonghan?” 

“I do, actually.” Vernon said with a grin. “I’ve never actually spoken to him outside of going to the restaurant where he works, but he seems nice.”

“He is.” Seungkwan agreed with a nod. Then he sighed a bit. “Ugh, he and his new guy are going to be so cute together.”

That made Vernon laugh. “That guy’s my friend too. He’s Mingyu’s roommate.”

“What’s his name? Is he nice?” Seungkwan narrowed his eyes. “Is he going to be nice to Jeonghan?” 

After a moment, Vernon gave a decisive nod. “Seungcheol looks tough, but he’s a big softie, really.” 

“Good.” Seungkwan said, and Vernon laughed. 

“You look like you were planning on giving him the shovel talk.” He said. 

“Well, maybe I will.” Seungkwan said. “Now that I know he won’t actually beat me up. You shouldn’t spill people’s secrets like that, you know.” 

He put a reproachful expression on his face, rewarded by Vernon laughing. 

“Well, let’s see. Do you know any of my friends? What about Jihoon?” Vernon asked. Seungkwan fell into thought, trying to place the familiar name. Finally, it hit him.

“Wait, is that the same guy that Mingyu has been drooling over?” He asked, and Vernon nodded. “And you’re friends with both of them? Good luck.”

“Thankfully, Mingyu isn’t asking me too much about him.” Vernon said. “He’s trying to ‘do this himself’, whatever that means. But it’s good, because I don’t really know what Jihoon thinks of him. Jihoon doesn’t really talk about stuff like that.”

“Jihoon probably likes him.” Seungkwan said with a sigh. “Mingyu’s the world’s perfect man.” He remembered, with some bitterness, the day that he’d found out that on top of being proficient at cooking, cleaning, studying, painting, and sewing, that Mingyu could play the guitar as well. It was ridiculous, honestly.

“You think so?” Vernon asked, one eyebrow raised, and Seungkwan waved his hand in front of his face in a manner that couldn’t _not_ be described as flustered.

“Not that I--it’s not--he’s not my type, though.” 

“Ah, so you like lame guys. Got it.” 

“Don’t tease me!” Seungkwan exclaimed. He poked Vernon’s side. “But hey, that means that you have a chance.” 

Part of Seungkwan couldn’t believe he’d said that. Most of Seungkwan was absolutely delighted by the way Vernon’s mouth fell open at the jab, laughing a little, probably trying to seem offended with his raised eyebrows and tilted chin. The look was not convincing at all though, with how he was smiling. Then Vernon poked him back, and like that, Seungkwan’s nerves vanished, able to fall again into that easy pattern of talking to Vernon. 

Their walk was aimless, but Seungkwan didn’t mind simply wandering, only encountering a few people as they circled campus. Time felt like it flew by, Seungkwan surprised when Vernon came to a stop. 

“I hate to do this, but it’s getting late, and I have to be up early tomorrow.” He said. He showed Seungkwan his phone screen and sure enough, it was after ten. “Want me to walk you back to your dorm or something?” 

“No, that’s okay!” Seungkwan said quickly. “I uh, I can walk. Thanks though.” It was back, that awkward feeling, now paired with a strange end-of-date sensation, and Seungkwan wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. “For everything, I mean. Inviting me out, and stuff.” 

“Of course. I had a lot of fun.” Vernon held his hand up. It looked like it was supposed to be a high-five sort of gesture, but instead of slapping their palms together when Seungkwan reciprocated Vernon simply held his hand for a moment, giving it a bit of a squeeze before letting go. Seungkwan’s heart jumped in his chest. “Text me when you’re home, so I know that you got back okay.” 

“You too.” Seungkwan told him, and it was a response that only kind of made sense. “When you’re back. Or--you know what I mean.”

Vernon grinned. “I’d better get going then, so I can text you sooner.” He said, and that wasn’t doing anything to help slow Seungkwan’s heart rate. “See you soon, alright?” 

“Yeah,” was all Seungkwan could give, waving back at Vernon’s gesture of farewell. Then Vernon was walking off, and Seungkwan was smiling so hard that he felt his cheeks begin to ache.

Starting to walk back to his dorm, Seungkwan pulled out his own phone, finding that he had four messages from Chan.

_Date going well?_  
_I’m going to ask Vernon too so don’t try to lie to me_  
_If you don’t respond in five minutes I’m going to assume that he’s kissing you_  
_OH MY GOD SEUNGKWAN I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TWO KISSED CONGRATULATIONS_

Seungkwan snorted, rolling his eyes as he typed out a response.

_How much do you get paid to act this annoying?_

Chan sent the kiss emoji back, but Seungkwan assumed he’d told Seokmin he was back on his phone, because then Seokmin sent him a message.

_How did it go?_

Seokmin was someone Seungkwan could talk to. So he did.

_He bought me an ice cream and laughed at my jokes and it’s not a big deal or anything but I think he might be the loml_

_...the laugh out more loud?_

_NO NO SEOKMIN THE LOVE OF MY LIFE_

Seungkwan added two crying emojis for good measure. He wasn’t surprised to see Chan still in his room when he returned, but he was surprised to see Chan curled up in his bed like he was planning on sleeping there. 

“My roommate brought his girlfriend back.” Chan explained. “Seokmin said that I could stay.”

Seokmin nodded in confirmation of Chan’s story, but that wasn’t the part that confused Seungkwan the most. 

“Okay, but why are you in _my_ bed?”

“Oh, we just assumed you were going home with Vernon.” Chan said, his grin a teasing one.

“I didn’t say that!” Seokmin exclaimed, while Seungkwan wrenched his pillow out from under Chan’s head so he could hit Chan in the face with it. 

“Hey!” Chan defended, trying to shield himself. “You’re the one that said you were in love with him!” 

Seungkwan whirled on Seokmin. “I told you that in confidence!”

“He was looking over my shoulder!” Seokmin cried out, yelping when Seungkwan hit him too. Deciding he didn’t need to take this abuse, Seungkwan took his toiletries from his closet so he could brush his teeth and wash his face. On his way down the hall to the bathroom, his phone buzzed. It was Vernon.

_Get home alright?_

_I did!_ Seungkwan sent back. _You?_

_Yep. Hey, could you send me those pictures?_

Seungkwan knew he meant the selfies, texting them over quickly. Then he sent another message. 

_Whatever Chan tells you tomorrow, I don’t think you should believe him. He’s just a gremlin dressed in human clothes._

Sending the photos had Seungkwan looking at them again though, smiling to himself. His favorite one was undoubtedly the one of Vernon acting silly, his tongue out, his eyes squeezed closed. Seungkwan didn’t usually like pictures of himself where he didn’t have his expression under control, but despite being mid-motion in this one, laughing and starting to fall forwards a bit, he found he kind of liked it anyway. 

Vernon didn’t really respond to his warning about Chan, his next message back to the matter at hand.

_New contact photo!_

The picture Vernon had attached was a screenshot of his recent messages. Sure enough, the little profile picture by Seungkwan’s name was the same picture he’d been smiling at just moments before, cropped so that it was just his laughing face. That wasn’t the first thing Seungkwan noticed, though.

Someone else had texted Vernon, had texted him even more recently than Seungkwan’s last message. Since the message had been read, Seungkwan figured that the response was Vernon’s. It was to a girl, the contact name _Sofia,_ followed by a series of cute heart and star emojis. The message content had Seungkwan’s heart sinking in his chest. 

_I love you too. I’ll see you soon, I promise._

Seungkwan simply stared at the screen, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my beta reader looked over this chapter for me and then told me this fic wouldn't pass the bechdel test  
> ALSO.... in case you didn't know... [ the thing abt jeonghan getting into a fight and getting braces is true btw](https://twitter.com/svtsangel/status/1291529508907036674?s=20)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI FRIENDS ♡ I hope this chapter finds you well!! I am very excited for Caratland, it's going to be my first one, I hope the others that are planning to watch are excited too!
> 
> additional warnings in this chapter for alcohol use, vague/implied sexual content, mention of a panic attack (one doesn't happen, but those words are used)  
> that sounds rly serious but I promise the majority of this chapter is still very light!!

“Hey, are you busy tonight?” 

Vernon was getting ready to leave the radio room, surprised to hear the question come from Jihoon, of all people. Not that he minded it, but he and Jihoon had a precedent of not hanging out together outside of work.

“I’m not, actually.” He said. It was Friday, and while he usually did stuff with his friends on the weekends, they didn’t usually make actual, concrete plans. He’d thought of maybe hanging out with Seungkwan again--he hadn’t seen Seungkwan since last week--and the only thing he truly had on his plate was an essay due Monday, but he’d already made up his mind to ignore that assignment until Sunday evening, at the earliest. “What’s up?”

“I’m going to a party.” Jihoon said. “It’s--I mean, it’s just at Joshua’s apartment, but do you want to come?” 

“Sure...?” Vernon said, and Jihoon pointed at him like he was holding him to the one-worded, slightly confused answer. “You’re going to a party?” It was hard for Vernon to keep the surprise from his voice. Jihoon was a self-proclaimed homebody, he knew.

“All of my roommates are going, and they know that I don’t have plans, so I couldn’t really say no.” Jihoon explained. “Plus… It could be fun.”

“...right.” Vernon said, not really buying the words. And Jihoon could tell, throwing up his hands.

“Fine! I’m going because Mingyu will be there.”

“He will?”

“And I, uh. I like him.”

“You like Mingyu?!”

“Shut up.” Jihoon told him, but Vernon couldn’t  _ not  _ smile about the news. “Are you coming or not?”

“Wait, is this Joshua and Jeonghan’s party?” Chan asked, glancing up from his phone like he’d just started paying attention. “I’m going. I could keep you company if you want, Jihoon.” 

“You’re going?” Vernon didn’t know that Chan knew Joshua or Jeonghan. 

“Yeah. Seungkwan got invited, so he asked if I wanted to go.”

“Seungkwan is going?” Vernon felt like the last person in the world to hear about this party. But then he realized something: Joshua was his friend too. They’d only hung out a couple of times, but still; Joshua had his phone number. He didn’t think he’d done anything to offend Joshua, but if he was wanted at this party, Joshua would have probably texted him, right? He didn’t want to go somewhere where he wasn’t wanted. “Wait, are you sure I can come? I wasn’t invited.” 

“Yes, you can come.” Jihoon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Joshua talked to me about it in class earlier this week, and he was going to invite you. I wanted to frame it like I needed help, to make sure you would go, so I said I would ask for him. And you already agreed, by the way. So you’re going.” 

“That was sneaky.” Vernon told him, but Jihoon just grinned. “Hey, could I invite Minghao?” 

Minghao was his plus one, for everything. For parties, for formal events--even to a pasty shop on Valentine’s Day once, pretending they were dating so they could split a free cookie. Jihoon shrugged.

“Sure, I don’t care. It’s not happening at my place.” 

Vernon decided to text Joshua on his way home, both to say that he’d finally gotten Jihoon’s relatively manipulative party invitation and to ask if he could bring his roommate along. Joshua said yes, so when Vernon got home, he told Minghao that they had evening plans. Minghao immediately begged Vernon to let him dress him.

“It’s a bit insulting that you don’t think I can dress myself, you know.” Vernon told him, watching his friend rifle through his closet. 

“It’s a bit insulting that you think that you can.” Minghao responded. Vernon was about to argue, but then he remembered that Seungkwan was going to be there, so he relented and let Minghao pick out clothes for him. 

They were meeting up at Jihoon’s apartment building, then all walking to Joshua’s place together. Vernon had never been to Jihoon’s apartment, needing directions over the phone, supposed to meet up with them outside. 

Vernon caught sight of them almost as soon as the building came into view. He recognized Jihoon immediately, waving, and Jihoon waved back. When they met up though, Vernon noticed Soonyoung there too, but had to introduce himself to the third person, whose name was Wonwoo.

“We’re almost ready to go.” Soonyoung said, once Vernon was sure that Minghao had also been introduced to the group. “We’re just waiting on--”

“Coming!” Came a shout, and bounding down the open staircase was another man Vernon didn’t know. He was dressed simply, in slightly ripped jeans and a half-tucked button-up shirt, but his legs seemed to go on for miles, a silver chain dangling from his left ear. Vernon stepped forwards, ready to give his name to another stranger when Minghao spoke, his voice loud in unrestrained shock. 

“Condom Guy?”

“...Minghao?” The newcomer-- _ this  _ was Condom Guy?--asked back in surprise. Then Minghao went a painful shade of red, and Jihoon and all of his roommates began laughing. 

“Oh. Oh.  _ Oh.”  _ Soonyoung looked like he was trying to speak, but was continually rendered speechless with laughter. Jihoon had completely doubled over, Wonwoo clinging to him. Finally, Soonyoung fully bowed in Minghao’s direction. “Oh, it is  _ so  _ good to meet you.” 

There was something knowing in the way he spoke, Vernon realizing that somehow, Jihoon and his friends were in on the "Condom Guy" joke. 

"Do you know about this?" He asked Soonyoung, who nodded excitedly. Jihoon and Wonwoo were still laughing. 

"Mingyu told us about it last week, when he came over." He said. Minghao, looking mortified by what had just happened, turned towards Vernon; Vernon opened his arm for Minghao to hide his face in his shoulder, Junhui watching the motion in interest. Junhui truly was startlingly tall and handsome, Vernon noting in amusement that Junhui did fit pretty closely within what Vernon had come to learn Minghao's "type" was, though Minghao fervently insisted that he didn't have one: a tall nose and a sharp jaw, but Junhui also had a scattered collection of moles and freckles that made his face interesting to look at. 

"Hi." Vernon said, Minghao's face still buried in his neck. He noticed that despite the crude nickname, Junhui did not at all seem offended by it. "I'm Vernon." 

"Don't worry." Soonyoung said, not unkindly, giving Minghao a pat on the shoulder. "You call Junhui 'Condom Guy'--which he totally deserves, by the way--and he calls you 'Cute Guy At The Health Services Desk That I'm Too Nervous To Actually Talk To', so really, it's eye for an eye, I think." 

Vernon wasn't sure that was the proper way to use that phrase, but it didn't seem to matter; Condom Guy--Junhui, Vernon remembered, his name was Junhui and Vernon didn't want to accidentally slip up too--made a strange yelping type of noise and ran at Soonyoung, who let out a wild shout and began running away. Jihoon and Wonwoo burst out laughing again, Minghao unearthing himself from Vernon's shoulder to watch them. 

"Well, that just happened." Vernon said, wanting to laugh, glancing over at Minghao. He didn't look quite so mortified anymore.

"Did he just say that Junhui thinks I'm cute?" He sounded genuinely surprised.

"Didn't you say he's been hitting on you?" Vernon asked. "Like... Constantly?" 

"I guess, but I thought it was a joke."

"Maybe it's not." Vernon said, letting his voice get a bit cheeky, and Minghao rolled his eyes.

Joshua and Jeonghan's apartment was a decent distance away, just on the edge of what could still be considered student housing. As they walked Junhui's headlock let up, his arm slung around Soonyoung's shoulders instead. Jihoon looked rather comfortable in the mess of yelling and wrestling his friends had been doing, and with the three of them also going to this party, Vernon had a question for him. 

"If so many of your friends are going, why did you want me to come?" 

"I mean, I like you." Jihoon said, the words so extremely matter-of-fact that they didn’t really come across like a compliment. They still felt nice anyway, though. "But also... We're going because Joshua invited Soonyoung. He invited Soonyoung  _ specifically, _ but Soonyoung asked if we could come, because he's nice like that. But Soonyoung likes Joshua. Soonyoung would let me stick to his side the whole time, because he knows that’s what I do at parties, but I don't want to do that to him. I want to let him hang out with Joshua. Wonwoo's as antisocial as I am, and Junhui... I don't know, Junhui's weird. So, you." 

"Me." Vernon agreed. 

Soonyoung had his phone out while they walked, and he must have been texting Joshua, because the door opened before they had the chance to knock. Joshua was on the other side, smiling as he invited them all in. Vernon had Jihoon on one side of him and Minghao on the other, and felt both of them edge just a bit closer in preparation to enter the unfamiliar space. 

“Junhui!” Joshua’s voice was loud in surprise when he saw Junhui, Junhui grinning back in a way that was almost sheepish.

“How do you know him?” Soonyoung asked. “And why didn’t I know about it?” 

“We were lab partners a couple of semesters ago, so I have his phone number.” Joshua said. Though he was talking about Junhui, he was staring fully at Soonyoung, reaching a hand out, needlessly resting it on Soonyoung’s forearm. “We send each other cat memes every couple of weeks.”

“We blew stuff up four times.” Junhui reported proudly, Wonwoo laughing, Vernon the last of the group to pass through Joshua’s front door.

The apartment was relatively small, but it was cute too, and might have only felt cramped because of the amount of bodies in it. There were five people already in the living room, and Vernon was surprised to see that he recognized all of them.

Jeonghan let out a shout of greeting, waving, sandwiched on the couch between Seungcheol and Seokmin. Seungcheol's arm was thrown over the back of the couch and, by extension, over Jeonghan's shoulders. Vernon didn't even know that Seungcheol had been invited, but with how often he was with Jeonghan these days--and with how gross they were on instagram--he supposed it made sense.

Seungkwan and Chan were there too, in some kind of heated debate. Vernon didn't find out what it was about though; they both stopped when Jeonghan exclaimed at them, and when Seungkwan turned, Vernon was met with a blinding smile. 

"Are the rest of my friends here?" Came a shout, Vernon looking over to the kitchen. Mingyu was at the stove, with at least three pots and pans going, and he was so focused that he didn't even turn around to look; he just opened the arm he wasn't stirring with. "I want hugs!" 

Soonyoung ran over immediately, Vernon and Minghao also indulging him, Vernon's breath leaving his lungs with how tightly he was squeezed. Mingyu left his arm raised. 

"I know who else was invited." He said. "That's not everyone." 

Jihoon didn't move. Wonwoo, however, raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, me?" He asked, and Mingyu finally turned around to grin at him. 

"You. Bring it in." He insisted, Wonwoo laughing a little as Mingyu wrapped an arm around him. That left Jihoon, who had his arms crossed, standing resolutely in the living room. Mingyu was smirking at him, raising an eyebrow, and Vernon's knowledge that Jihoon actually, properly liked Mingyu made his defiance funnier. 

"If you don't hug me, you don't get food." Mingyu warned. Jihoon raised an eyebrow, but the tension of the moment was broken as someone else stepped forwards; Chan was hurrying in Mingyu's direction, wrapping his arms around him, and Mingyu looked down at him in surprise. 

"I don't know you." Mingyu told him, after a moment of silence.

"I don't know you either." Chan responded, looking up at him, his arms still around Mingyu’s torso. "But I want food, so." 

"Oh, okay." The whole room was laughing at them, and Mingyu shrugged before giving Chan a squeeze back. "Who haven't I hugged yet? I'll just hug everyone."

The only two left were Jihoon and Junhui--apparently Seungkwan, Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Joshua had gotten hugs before Vernon’s crew arrived--and Junhui also got a hug from Mingyu, but Jihoon was still steadfast in his refusal. Mingyu pouted exaggeratedly, declaring that Jihoon would just have to go hungry.

"I'm trying to set this thing up." Joshua said, gesturing vaguely towards the television. There was a box and some wires and it all looked very complicated, Soonyoung jumping in immediately to try to help him.

"What is it?" Vernon asked. 

"A karaoke machine!" Seungkwan's voice was bright with excitement. "I might have convinced Joshua that he absolutely needed to buy it for this party."

"Of course you did." Chan said, Vernon turning to Seungkwan in interest.

"Do you like to sing?" He asked. The question didn't really feel like it warranted the look of completely flabbergasted surprise Seungkwan was treating him to, as well as the loud bark of laughter from Mingyu and the pained sigh from Chan. "...what?" 

"Have..." Seungkwan looked absolutely stunned. "Have we never talked about this?" 

"About what?" Vernon asked back. "Karaoke machines?"

"He sings all the time." Chan said. Jihoon's face was now one of interest. "Literally all the time." 

"He's a Vocal Performance major, like me!" Seokmin said, sitting forwards on the couch. "He's amazing!"

Vernon thought that was probably pretty high praise, considering how good Seokmin himself was. Jeonghan was nodding along, and Seungkwan was starting to look embarrassed by the attention. 

"Could you sing something?" Jihoon asked, and Vernon couldn't help but smile when Seungkwan went pink.  _ God, _ he was so cute.

"No! I'm embarrassed now, I'm going to--" 

"Come on!" Chan whined. "You've literally never been embarrassed before.”

"You can't pretend you like my singing!" Seungkwan exclaimed, whirling around to glare at him. "Not when--" 

"Come on, Seungkwan!" Seokmin was very excited now, half rising from his seat, disrupting Jeonghan and causing him to lean more into the curve under Seungcheol's arm. "Just a little bit." 

"Just a little bit." Vernon repeated imploringly, and Seungkwan looked at him for a moment before huffing out a sigh and hitting Vernon very lightly in the chest. But Seokmin would not be denied, beginning to sing, the song something slow that started with the English phrase  _ “I'll be there--" _ . Seungkwan seemed to know the song, and also seemed unable to help himself, starting to sing with him. 

Seungkwan had closed his eyes, but seemed to forget his embarrassment quickly; his voice got louder, the whole apartment going quiet to listen. Vernon knew his mouth had fallen open, but he didn't much care. Once Seungkwan got to the end of the phrase he was singing he stopped, noticed everyone staring at him, turned red, and stepped close to Vernon, hiding his embarrassed face in Vernon's shoulder.

Seokmin cheered, a cheer that the whole apartment took up and Vernon--well, Vernon definitely wasn't complaining about having an armful of Seungkwan. 

"That--that was really..." He didn't know how to convey the compliment he wanted to give. Seungkwan's voice was perfect, gentle but strong at the same time, not what Vernon had expected to hear come out of him but completely fitting once he'd heard it. He really, really liked Seungkwan's voice, but couldn't find it in himself to be too surprised; he was beginning to realize that he liked pretty much everything about Seungkwan. 

"Do you like IU?" Wonwoo asked with surprising enthusiasm, and Seungkwan turned to him in delight, beaming. 

"I do!" 

Before he could elaborate, Soonyoung let out a shout of surprise. Jeonghan and Joshua's television made a horrible static sound, and then the display flipped sideways.

"Hey!" Jeonghan protested. "Don't break our TV."

"Wonwoo! Help!" Soonyoung yelped, and Wonwoo looked physically pained.

"You really shouldn't have let him try to help you." He told Joshua. "He breaks everything." 

Soonyoung whined that it wasn't true, insisting on continuing to help, now to assist in fixing whatever it was that he'd broken. Joshua seemed to have resigned himself from the situation, squeezing his body onto the couch, but before Vernon could attempt to reclaim Seungkwan's attention, Mingyu called out from the kitchen. 

"Someone that's not Jihoon, come taste-test this for me." 

Jihoon rolled his eyes, but Vernon couldn't help but notice the pink tint to his ears. Seungkwan responded to Mingyu's request and was gone, Joshua resuming the conversation, but before Vernon could tune in to it, Minghao elbowed him hard in the ribs. 

"What?" Vernon yelped, rubbing his side as he jumped to face his friend. 

"That compliment you seemed to have forgotten about?" Minghao prompted. "Go tell Seungkwan that you like his voice, or I'll do it for you. And kiss him while you're at it." He put two dramatic fingers to his temples. "Watching you just smile at him like that is painful for me." 

Vernon wasn't planning on kissing Seungkwan, but the compliment was a good idea, approaching the kitchen. 

"It needs a bit of salt." Seungkwan was saying, and Mingyu took the tasting spoon from Seungkwan's hand.

"I know that, I haven't salted it yet." Mingyu's voice was hushed. "Why wouldn't Jihoon hug me, Seungkwan? Did I do something wrong?"

"How would I know?" Seungkwan asked back. He looked a bit annoyed that Mingyu hadn't actually called him over for his culinary expertise. "Maybe he's just not that into you."

Mingyu fully whined at that.

"He's just shy." Vernon cut in. Mingyu’s mouth went open in surprise, but Vernon wasn’t really paying attention to him. "Seungkwan, could I talk to you?" 

Maybe that wording was wrong; Seungkwan agreed readily, but as soon as he'd stepped away from Mingyu, his voice sounded worried.

"What happened?" He asked quickly. "I'm sorry, I--"

"Nothing--nothing happened." Seungkwan’s compulsory apologies always threw Vernon off. “I just… I didn’t get the chance to say that your voice is beautiful, that’s all. I wanted to tell you.” 

“Oh!” Seungkwan’s eyes were huge. His face was pink again. “Oh. I--thank you!”

“When they set up the karaoke machine, do you want to do a duet with me?”

Seungkwan went from pink to red. "I... Sure!" 

Vernon frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" The word was a squeak. "Be right back!" 

The Seungkwan was fully out Joshua's front door. He didn't even put his shoes on first.

"Are you like, super bad at flirting or something?" Came a voice from behind him, Vernon turning to see Jihoon. Minghao was standing next to Jihoon, pursing his lips hard in an effort not to laugh. It was a valiant effort, and Vernon appreciated it. 

"I mean, I didn't think so." Vernon said. "Should I... I don't know, go check on him or something?"

"I don't think so." Minghao said. "You might just make it worse." 

"Thanks." Vernon told him, but Minghao's advice was usually worth heeding, so Vernon tried to return to the party. Soonyoung let out a shout, the sound completely incoherent, jumping to his feet.

"It's working!" He declared. The karaoke machine was, in fact, working; the selection menu was bright on the screen, Wonwoo getting to his feet and pushing his glasses up his nose. "I wanna go first."

"I'm going first!" It was a dramatic way to reenter a room and Seungkwan seemed to know it, playing it up as he stepped through the door, extending a hand to Vernon. "Vernon and I are doing a duet. Right?" 

He met Vernon's eyes at the last word, and Vernon couldn't help the smile on his face, reaching over to tangle his fingers with Seungkwan's. His heart did a little, embarrassing, wonderful leap when Seungkwan squeezed back. 

"Right." He said, and Seungkwan beamed. 

  
  


Jihoon could honestly say that he was surprised by the amount of fun he was having. 

He’d expected the party to be much worse. Partially, probably, because he’d expected it to be more like an actual party; sure, there was alcohol and food and strangers he didn’t know, but nobody was trying to force him to drink, and the food was homemade by the best chef Jihoon knew, and the strangers were supposedly mutual friends. All of them seemed nice, at least. 

He was spending a surprising amount of time with Chan and genuinely enjoying it, the two of them laughing together as they watched Vernon try and fail to flirt with Seungkwan. It was pretty funny, sure, but maybe not as funny as Chan made it seem with how hard he was giggling. Jihoon had the suspicion, though, that Chan was drunk. A little tipsy, at least. Most of the room was a little tipsy and Jihoon, who didn’t drink by choice, was having a great time watching them. 

He was currently sandwiched between Chan and Mingyu on the couch, the room watching Vernon and Joshua sing a rather dramatic song together in English that Jihoon didn’t know. Mingyu was too big for the amount of space he’d been allotted and was pressed very close to Jihoon’s side, touching him all the way from his shoulder to his hip to his knee, and whenever something happened that he found funny, he would reach over and squeeze at Jihoon’s hands.

He also had a plate of food in his lap, and Jihoon was very much enjoying reaching over and stealing pieces of meat from it. Despite his threat of no food, Jihoon’s plate was the first one Mingyu had spooned out when the food was actually finished. Now though, Jihoon couldn’t tell if Mingyu was feigning ignorance, or if he actually hadn’t noticed that half of the meat that was supposed to be for him had gone into Jihoon’s mouth instead. 

Apparently, Mingyu’s cluelessness had been genuine; he finally looked down, completely catching Jihoon’s chopsticks in his plate.

“That’s my food!” He exclaimed. Now with nothing to lose, Jihoon just popped another piece into his mouth. 

“It’s only your food if you eat it.” Jihoon countered, and Mingyu’s mouth fell open in what looked like amused delight. He seemed ready to say something, but then Seungkwan was on the both of them, whining for Mingyu to come sing with him. 

“I’m trying to eat!” Mingyu protested, Jihoon deciding to steal another piece of food, just to punctuate the “trying” part of Mingyu’s statement. Seungkwan simply frowned down at Mingyu for a second, seeming to grapple internally for a moment before completely surprising Jihoon by turning to him instead. 

“Do you want to sing with me?” 

He asked the question, but there was a microphone in Jihoon’s hand before he’d even answered, and Seungkwan was picking a song, and Chan had burst into giggles again. Then the song started, and everyone was staring at him, so Jihoon felt that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter anymore. 

The thing was, Jihoon genuinely enjoyed singing. And Seungkwan did too, and he was incredibly good at it, and because of all of those things, Jihoon found it indescribably fun to sing with Seungkwan. They sang a couple of songs together, and by the end of the second song Jihoon had gotten to his feet, and Seungkwan had slung an arm around his shoulders, and Jihoon was surprised to find that he wasn’t uncomfortable under the weight, like he sometimes could be; Seungkwan wasn’t uncomfortable, warm and light and fun instead. 

At the end of the third song, Jihoon was ready to pass the mic off to someone else. The reactive audience was great, but it was becoming a bit too much, Jihoon turning to the couch just to be faced with Mingyu, staring unabashedly at him.

“What?” Jihoon asked. Mingyu just grinned. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” 

Vernon burst out laughing, Jihoon sharply reminded that Vernon  _ knew,  _ and Mingyu started laughing as well. Jihoon shoved the microphone at Mingyu.

“Go sing.” He said, then went into the kitchen under the guise of getting a drink. Soonyoung was in there, also looking like he’d needed a bit of a break from all the socializing, smiling at Jihoon when he approached. 

“Mingyu, huh?” He asked, the grin on his face too knowing for Jihoon to try to deny anything. 

“I don’t know.” Jihoon answered. “I don't know why. He approached me, for some reason, and… Yeah. He, uh.” The words felt just a bit unbelievable. “He likes me.”

“Congrats.” Soonyoung looked genuinely glad for him, glancing into the living room. Mingyu was on his feet now, singing loudly with Seungkwan, very obviously enjoying himself. “Damn, forget living in different countries; the two of you could be standing next to each other, and you’d still be in a long distance relationship.”

“Fuck off.” Jihoon responded, but the words had no bite to them, Soonyoung just laughing instead. 

“Wait, no.” Came a voice to their right. Jeonghan was entering the kitchen. “Don’t fuck off. I need to talk to you.”

“Me?” Soonyoung asked back. Jihoon could understand his surprise; neither of them knew Jeonghan very well at all. 

“Yeah.” It was evident by the way Jeonghan was talking, and how he rested himself against the kitchen counter next to Soonyoung, that he was less than sober. “You. I need to tell you something.”

“Okay…?”

“Joshua likes you.” Jeonghan reached out with a finger, poking Soonyoung in the chest. “He likes your cute butt and your sexy eyes, or something.”

Soonyoung just blinked for a second, and it was all Jihoon had not to burst out laughing, though he did have to cover his mouth with his hands. 

“He does?”

“He told me not to tell you, but he also ate the food I was saving for myself in the fridge, so I don’t care.” Jeonghan said. “Plus, you seem nice, I guess. And if you’re not nice, I can just tell my boyfriend to beat you up.” 

“I--”

“He wouldn’t, though. Beat you up. He’s nice like that. But he might if I asked. He does everything I ask him to do. He’s perfect. Where is he?” 

Jeonghan fully wasn’t speaking to either of them anymore--it seemed, just a bit, that he hadn’t really been speaking to them the whole time, just speaking  _ at  _ them--his eyes searching the living room. His expression noticeably changed when his eyes locked on whoever he was looking for, and both Soonyoung and Jihoon watched as he went and fully placed himself in the lap of someone Jihoon now knew to be Mingyu’s roommate. 

Jihoon just clapped a stunned Soonyoung on the shoulder and went to rejoin the festivities.

After more food, more karaoke, and a significant amount of new phone numbers in Jihoon’s phone--apparently, this party had been Joshua’s attempt to get Jeonghan to make more friends, so they’d all exchanged contact information--Jihoon found himself on the couch alone next to a relatively intoxicated Wonwoo. The party had wound down a decent amount, but the karaoke machine was still on, though Seungkwan and Seokmin more or less had monopolized the machine for the past half an hour. 

“I know everything.” Wonwoo said. Jihoon leaned towards him in interest. 

“Everything?” He asked back. Jihoon loved talking to drunk Wonwoo.

“Everything.” Wonwoo assured him. “Like--Vernon likes Seungkwan. And Seungkwan likes Vernon, but he’s being weird about it.” 

Okay, so maybe this wouldn’t be as interesting as Jihoon thought, because those observations were obvious enough to anyone that had eyes. 

“And Jun’s new friend? Minghao? Yeah. Minghao wants to lick him.”

“Didn’t need to know that.” 

“And oh--this is a secret.” Wonwoo leaned in conspiratorially. “Jeonghan and Seungcheol aren’t really dating.”

“Really?” Jihoon wasn’t sure about that one, with the way Jeonghan had been calling Seungcheol his boyfriend all night. Wonwoo leaned a little bit closer. 

“They’re pretending. For some reason. Though Seungcheol is… He’s pretty much balls deep in love with Jeonghan anyway.”

Jihoon choked on his Coca-Cola. 

“And!” Wonwoo wasn’t done. Jihoon was starting to wish he was. “Joshua likes Soonyoung. And Soonyoung hasn’t done anything about it yet.” 

“He hasn’t?” That was a surprise. Usually, Soonyoung and his self-assuredness went for anything he wanted. Hearing that he basically had a green light to kiss Joshua and hadn’t done it yet was surprising. 

“He’s not sure if Jeonghan is right or not, because Jeonghan is drunk, and apparently likes to play pranks on people. Plus Soonyoung is nervous, or whatever.” Wonwoo rolled his eyes, then took another drink of the beer in his hand. “Which is stupid. He needs to just do it, so he can stop blaming me for the fact that he’s single.”

That made Jihoon laugh. When Joshua had first started working at the coffee shop, Soonyoung had found him cute and made the mistake of asking them what his opening line should be, not catching Wonwoo’s sarcasm when he agreed that “My name is Soonyoung, and you should call me soon” had been a good idea. Joshua had laughed, and Soonyoung had taken that to mean that he’d been concretely placed in the “undateable funny guy” category, and he hadn’t let Wonwoo forget it. 

“I’m sure he will.” Jihoon said, glancing over. Joshua had gotten a guitar from his bedroom and was clumsily strumming at it, and Soonyoung was looking at him with stars in his eyes. 

“It’s just stupid.” Wonwoo said again. “I mean, he  _ knows.  _ He knows! He knows that Joshua likes him. That’s someone in the world that wants to get close to you, and wants to get to know you.  _ Wants _ make you happy. So why not just let them?” 

Jihoon wanted to say that it wasn’t that easy, despite how easy it sounded when Wonwoo phrased it like that. Chan and his friends decided they were leaving, thanking Joshua for the invitation and a fun night, Seokmin going around the apartment to say individual goodbyes, Seungkwan promising to text everyone. Vernon and Minghao left soon after that, Jihoon about to get to his feet and propose the same thing when something large fell onto the couch next to him. 

“Jihoon!”

It was Mingyu. A drunk Mingyu. A drunk and happy Mingyu, smiling at him in a very open and unabashed way, similar to how he’d looked when Jihoon caught him staring after he’d finished singing with Seungkwan. It was a look so honest and unapologetic that it made Jihoon embarrassed, and he wasn’t even the one doing the staring.

“Hi.” Jihoon responded. 

“You really look cute tonight.” 

“Thanks.” 

“Like, really really cute. Your pants, and your shirt and stuff.” 

“Thanks.” Jihoon said again, while Wonwoo snorted in laughter next to him.

“What?” Mingyu asked Wonwoo.

“You said that already.”

“I know.” Mingyu was grinning like he’d just told a joke. Then, in a whisper that definitely wasn’t quiet enough for Jihoon not to hear--as though Mingyu wasn’t leaning all the way across Jihoon to whisper to Wonwoo anyway--“I want to tell him that I like his butt, but that’s too embarrassing, so I’m telling him I like his pants instead.”

“You’re so smart.” Wonwoo told him, his voice heavy with intoxicated sincerity. 

“You need to go home.” Jihoon interrupted. He was a bit afraid of letting this conversation continue. “Where is your roommate?” 

Mingyu just shrugged, but Jihoon quickly found that the answer was a valid one; Seungcheol was nowhere to be found. Jihoon hadn’t noticed him leave, but truth be told, he hadn’t been paying the closest attention.

“Are you okay if I leave?” Jihoon asked Soonyoung. Checking in with friends was always proper etiquette when leaving a party, especially if said friends were drunk, but Jihoon trusted Joshua. That, and the things that Soonyoung, Wonwoo, and Junhui managed to accomplish while drunk were almost as impressive as the things they could do while sober, so Jihoon wasn’t worried about them not managing to get back to the apartment. “I’m going to take Mingyu home.” 

“Have fun!” Soonyoung exclaimed at him, waving like Jihoon was already out the door, so Jihoon took that as a green light to go ahead and go.

It was surprisingly easy to get Mingyu home. Mingyu was very willing, very pliant and agreeable under Jihoon’s touch and direction, something Jihoon wasn’t going to let himself think about as he took Mingyu’s keys from his hand and unlocked his dorm room door. 

“Okay.” The place was surprisingly clean. Mingyu took one of Jihoon’s hands in his, and sat down on what Jihoon assumed was his bed. The room was dark. Jihoon felt painfully out of his element. “You’re, uh--you’re home now.” 

“Thank you.” Mingyu said, but when Jihoon went to take his hand back, he began to frown. “Are you leaving?” 

“Shouldn’t I?” Jihoon asked back, and Mingyu began shaking his head resolutely.

“If you leave, I’ll miss you.” He said. 

“But you need to go to sleep.”

“My bed is big.” Mingyu said. His bed was not, in fact, big--it was a standard issue twin-sized mattress--but that didn’t seem to matter. “You should stay.” 

Staying was the one thing Jihoon thought he probably shouldn’t do. He liked Mingyu, and he knew it, and he knew Mingyu liked him back, but staying felt like admitting it, making all of it real. For some reason, Jihoon didn’t think he could do that. It felt too vulnerable, somehow. 

But then he looked down at Mingyu, at how Mingyu was holding his hand, and how gently Mingyu was rubbing Jihoon’s fingers with his thumb. He knew that if he decided to go, Mingyu wouldn’t genuinely be upset with him, wouldn’t hold it against him, and suddenly, leaving wasn’t even an option at all. 

“Okay.” He said instead, and Mingyu smiled. 

Once they actually got in bed, the lack of space was evident. They were all sorts of on top of each other, Mingyu especially, with his long arms and long legs. It was a lot, but Jihoon found he kind of liked it; something about it was comforting, like a weighted blanket. 

“You should go to sleep.” Jihoon finally felt he had to say, because Mingyu was not being very subtle; he was all big doe eyes, his lips slightly parted, staring shamelessly at Jihoon’s mouth. He was so gorgeous though, so gorgeous and so close, and Jihoon put a hand over Mingyu’s eyes. 

“Stop staring.” The words felt blunt, but that was what Mingyu was doing, so he might as well call it what it was. “Go to sleep, seriously.” 

“But you’re pretty.” Mingyu said, sounding almost upset that he couldn’t see Jihoon anymore. Jihoon felt hot all over. “I’ll lick you.”

The words had Jihoon freezing until he realized why Mingyu had said them. 

“You’re supposed to lick someone when they cover your mouth, you idiot. Not when they cover your eyes.” 

“Don’t care. I’ll lick you anyways.” Mingyu started to move under the covers so Jihoon drew his hand away, but Mingyu wasn’t trying to lick him; he threw an arm across Jihoon’s chest instead, nuzzling close against the side of his neck. Jihoon could feel Mingyu’s eyelashes brush his skin as he closed his eyes. “I want to.” 

Less than five minutes later, Mingyu was asleep. Jihoon wasn’t able to drift off for a long time. 

Surprisingly, he also woke up first, and felt that he severely needed to take a shower. He and Mingyu were as wrapped around each other as they had been when they fell asleep, and while it was comfortable, Jihoon could not figure out how to get out of Mingyu’s bed without waking him up. 

He couldn’t, as it turned out, Mingyu sitting up fast and all at once and before his eyes were even open. His hair was sticking up every which way, and he looked both very cute and very stupid, and Jihoon was grinning before he even realized it. 

“Morning.” Jihoon said. The fondness in his voice was more audible than he’d expected, feeling embarrassed almost immediately and switching tracks. “Could I take a shower?” 

Mingyu blinked at him twice, as though he couldn’t even comprehend the idea that Jihoon was there. Then, before doing anything else, he leaned in and gave Jihoon a tight hug. 

“Yeah, sure.” Mingyu was getting out of bed, stumbling around his room, bumping into half of the furniture as he walked around. Jihoon wanted to tell him that it was okay, that it really wasn’t that important, but Mingyu was on a mission and would not be stopped. Jihoon found himself with an armful of clothes, an entire basket of soaps, a pair of shower shoes, and a towel. 

“The bathroom is down the hall to the right.” Mingyu told him, and Jihoon nodded; he still remembered dorm life from his first year at the university, and this dorm and the dorm he had lived in had similar layouts. “Do you like strawberry jam?” 

“...what?” 

“Breakfast.” Mingyu responded, and Jihoon felt floored. Mingyu had been awake for less than five minutes, was probably terribly hungover, and had already hugged him, given him a change of clothes, and was trying to make him breakfast. 

“Uh, yeah.” Jihoon responded, because truth be told, he didn’t have a lot of strong opinions about jam, and went to take a shower. 

He was able to both shower and brush his teeth, finding a unopened, single-packaged toothbrush and tube of toothpaste in the basket Mingyu had handed him. He was padding down the hallway back to Mingyu’s room in a very large tanktop and pair of sweatpants that he’d had to roll up an embarrassing amount of times just to see his toes, feeling warm and clean. 

Mingyu beamed at him when he reentered. 

“What?” Jihoon asked. He felt like he’d asked that question a lot, especially about being looked at, when it came to Mingyu in the past twenty-four hours. 

“Oh nothing, you just look really cute in my clothes.” Mingyu told him. “How do you like your coffee?” 

“Um… With milk I guess?” Jihoon would drink just about anything. He set the shower stuff down on the floor, unsure of where to put it, and sat himself on Mingyu’s bed. There was already a stack of toast on a plate, and coffee maker was now out on Mingyu’s desk. “You don’t have to--don’t you have a hangover?” 

“Yep!” Mingyu pulled two mugs out of a desk drawer. “I’m regretting drinking so much yesterday. I already took something for the headache, though.” 

Jihoon wanted to tell Mingyu to just stop, that if Mingyu didn’t feel good then he didn’t need to worry himself with making Jihoon fancy toast and coffee. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful though, and he really didn’t want to leave, so he kept the concern to himself. 

“This is all very nice of you.” He said instead. 

“I’m very nice.” Mingyu informed him. There was a grin on his face now. “I got stuck at the library for two hours once because I was holding the door for people.” 

“You didn’t.”

“I did!”

“That’s embarrassing.” Jihoon said, matter-of-factly. Mingyu laughed, handing Jihoon his coffee first, holding his own mug and putting the stack of toast on the bed between them. 

“I’m embarrassing.” He responded. “Speaking of which, did I do anything too embarrassing last night? I didn’t like… Black out, or anything, but after a point it gets kind of hazy.” 

“I mean… Not really.” Jihoon took a sip of coffee, winced at how hot it was, and picked up a piece of toast instead. “Should we be eating toast in your bed?” 

“I was planning on doing laundry today anyway.” Mingyu answered with a shrug.

“Okay.” Jihoon took a crunching bite, speaking around the bread in his mouth. “You said that you wanted to lick me.” 

Mingyu very nearly spit coffee on him. It made Jihoon laugh, especially with how red Mingyu’s face was going. 

“Sorry.” Mingyu said quickly, and Jihoon shook his head a bit. 

“It didn’t--it didn’t offend me, or anything.” Jihoon said, and Mingyu’s eyebrows went up his forehead. Jihoon thought about how straightforward Mingyu had been with him this whole time, and about how comfortable he felt with Mingyu’s honesty, and about Wonwoo’s words of frustration for Soonyoung the previous night.

_ “That’s someone in the world that wants to get close to you, and wants to get to know you. Wants make you happy. So why not just let them?”  _

He made a decision.

“Mingyu, you know that song I wrote?” 

Jihoon couldn’t remember the last time he’d done something like this. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure that he’d ever done something like this. Mingyu had his mouth full of toast, but he looked up to Jihoon’s face and nodded. 

“Do you want the flash drive back?” Mingyu asked. “I already have the file saved on my computer--and my phone--so--”

“No, that’s not--” Jihoon relaxed his arms, his hands around his coffee, the mug in his lap. “I wrote it because of you. You helped me out a lot, and it turned out the way it did because of you.” 

“I’m sure that’s not true.” Mingyu said. “I mean, I made a suggestion or whatever, but you’re the one that knows what an ostinato is, not me.” 

_ Ostinato.  _ Mingyu hadn’t just sat there and let Jihoon speak in technical music jargon to him; he’d actually listened and remembered some of it. Jihoon wanted to kiss the breath out of him. 

“No, I mean… I wrote it about you.” Jihoon said. “The lyrics. They’re about you.” 

It was a confession, and Jihoon knew it, and he could tell by the expression on Mingyu’s face that he’d listened to _Oh My!_ enough times to know it too. Silence stretched between them for a couple of moments.

“Do you want to finish this toast?” Mingyu finally asked, and it was so unexpected that all Jihoon could do for a second was stare at him.

“...what?” He had to ask back.

“All I want to do is kiss you, but there’s all this stuff in the way.” Mingyu explained, the straightforward nature of the statement making Jihoon’s breath stutter in his chest. 

“No, yeah, um--” Jihoon picked up the plate and offered it in Mingyu’s direction, an allowance for him to take it away; the plate and both of their coffee cups were soon on Mingyu’s desk and Mingyu was leaning down before he’d even come back to the bed, pressing one kiss, light and quick, to Jihoon’s lips. 

“Is this okay?” Mingyu asked, and Jihoon really just wanted Mingyu closer, nodding and tugging at him. And Mingyu complied, sitting down, Jihoon pressing in. “I like you too, Jihoon.” 

“I know you do.” Jihoon said, and there was that smile on Mingyu’s face again, but now Jihoon could do something about it; he leaned in close, wrapped his arms around Mingyu’s neck, and kissed him. 

Mingyu was so much, this close. He was warmth, his big hands on Jihoon’s waist to hold him, and seemed to need to be closer, all but pulling Jihoon into his lap. A small, adorable sound came from his throat as Jihoon licked at his top lip, and Jihoon couldn’t help but smile against his mouth. 

“Sorry.” Mingyu murmured, but Jihoon just shook his head a bit, a slight laugh in his chest as he kissed Mingyu again, and Mingyu laughed back. Jihoon almost couldn’t believe it, how comfortable he felt, how sweet Mingyu was, and when Mingyu began reclining back onto his pillows, Jihoon went down with him. 

Mingyu ran his hands up Jihoon’s sides, able to dip his fingers slightly into his shirt with how large the arm holes on the oversized tank top were, about to let his hands in a bit further when he began to laugh instead, breaking the kiss completely to arch his head up and press his face into Jihoon’s neck.

“What?” Jihoon asked, almost embarrassed by how breathless he sounded.

“You were right.” Mingyu told him.

“About what?” 

“We shouldn’t have had breakfast in bed.” Mingyu was on his back, Jihoon on top of him, Jihoon pulling back to look at him as Mingyu shifted uncomfortably. “Crumbs.” 

That had Jihoon laughing too, and the mood was effectively broken; Jihoon sat back on Mingyu’s hips, just looking down at him, Mingyu finding both of his hands and entwining their fingers. 

“I like you.” Jihoon told him, because he hadn’t said it yet, and the words had Mingyu smiling from ear to ear. Mingyu looked about to speak, but then the door burst open.

It was Seungcheol, Mingyu’s roommate; Jihoon had completely forgotten about him, truth be told, forgotten that this was his room too and it was strange that he wasn’t there and hadn’t come home at some point overnight. 

“...Seungcheol?” Mingyu asked. He sounded concerned, and for good reason. Seungcheol looked panicked.

“I’ll go.” Jihoon said quietly, deciding that whatever this was, it wasn’t his place to be a part of it. He got up, gathering his clothes and slipping on his shoes. After a promise to call him, Mingyu gave him another kiss, and Jihoon was out the door. 

  
  


Seungcheol hadn’t had a panic attack in nearly a year. He was trying to keep that streak going, but things weren’t looking too great right now.

“Breathe.” Mingyu was telling him, steering him down onto his bed, and the reminder was only a little annoying, because Seungcheol was already trying to breathe. It just wasn’t working very well. “What happened? Are you okay?” 

“I--I just--” After the party, he’d spent the night in Jeonghan and Joshua’s apartment. He’d woken up roughly fifteen minutes ago. He’d woken up in Jeonghan’s  _ bed. _ “I slept with Jeonghan last night.” 

Mingyu’s face was one of slack-jawed surprise. 

“You--you did what?” 

Seungcheol just nodded a bit. Between his panic and his hangover, the action was dizzying. 

“Didn’t you--but did you--” Mingyu didn’t seem able to get the question out, switching tracks instead. “Weren’t you drunk?” 

“We both were.” Seungcheol said. They’d both been on the heavier half of tipsy, he knew. That was why it had happened at all. Jeonghan had fallen onto him on the couch, and he’d been so pretty, so beautiful and so close, all warm and nice and in his lap, smiling at him. Seungcheol had pressed his mouth to Jeonghan’s shoulder, just a kiss at first, before letting hot air between his lips and biting at the fabric of his shirt instead. Jeonghan had squirmed and giggled, getting up and pulling Seungcheol with him. He’d pulled Seungcheol all the way into his bedroom. 

He’d pressed up close in the dark room, his arms around Seungcheol’s waist, his voice soft, his eyes on Seungcheol’s, steady and sure.

“I want you to kiss me.” He’d said. That was all Seungcheol had wanted too, so he did. 

“Wait.” Mingyu was taking Seungcheol in all over again, a hand on his shoulder. “Why are you so freaked out? Doesn’t this mean he likes you? What happened?” 

They’d kissed, and kissed, and simply hadn’t stopped, falling onto Jeonghan’s bed. They hadn’t truly gone all the way--Seungcheol hadn’t woken up naked--but he’d touched Jeonghan almost everywhere under his clothes, and Jeonghan had done the same, chasing release with fingers and tongues, Jeonghan breathing heavy against his neck. The soft sounds Jeonghan had made were still at the front of Seungcheol’s mind, the way Jeonghan had responded to every given kiss with an almost needy sort of desperation. In the moment, it had felt intoxicating.

Waking up in the morning, his head pounding, with acid churning so violently in his stomach that he could feel it in the back of his throat, everything felt like a mistake. Seungcheol had gathered himself up, collected his things, and managed to get himself out of the apartment without waking anyone. 

“You just  _ left?!”  _ Mingyu asked, his voice high in incredulity, rising off the bed. “What the hell? How could you do that?” 

“Please don’t yell at me.” Seungcheol managed out, and Mingyu deflated almost immediately, busying himself instead with stripping the sheets from his bed. He worked at it silently, and once he was done he sat down on the bare mattress, pushing the wadded up bundle of blankets to the foot of his bed and pulling a pillow into his lap.

“You have to talk to him.” Mingyu said. “You need to just tell him, Seungcheol. You need to tell him how you feel.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you like him, don’t you?” Mingyu asked. Seungcheol nodded. He liked Jeonghan so much he was sick with it, and he knew Mingyu asking was only a courtesy. He knew that Mingyu knew. He felt like everyone knew. “So tell him! Why are you so resistant? Don’t you think it would be worth it?”

“He’s not...” Seungcheol let out a long breath. He didn’t know how to explain how it was with Jeonghan, how circumstantial everything had been. They’d only met because Seungcheol had happened to suggest eating at the restaurant Jeonghan worked at, showing up while Jeonghan was on the clock. For an entire year, that hadn’t been enough to get them to start talking. They’d only really begun interacting because Seungcheol had inserted himself into a situation that, in all honesty, he didn’t really have any business putting himself in. They’d only kissed because they’d both had alcohol. 

Jeonghan hadn’t asked for any of it. Jeonghan didn’t want it. Their first kiss was the only thing he’d initiated, and he’d been drunk when he did it. That was evidence enough. 

“You won’t know unless you ask.” Mingyu told him. “Before--before you came barging in here, I’d been with Jihoon. He’d told me that he liked me back, and I’m pretty sure a part of the reason he did was because I’d confessed first. I didn’t have expectations, but I told him that I liked him. That, you know, he shouldn’t just brush my compliments and my actions off as someone that was just trying to be a nice friend. I asked him if he was okay with that, and he was.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“It literally is!” 

“Maybe it is for you, but--” Mingyu had the face of a model and a heart of gold; his experience was not universal. The defense had Mingyu glaring daggers at him. 

“Seungcheol, don’t be an idiot.” He said, and Seungcheol looked away from him. “You’re not ugly. You’re genuinely one of the nicest people I know. Don’t even try to do that.”

“What was I supposed to say?” Seungcheol asked. 

“That you think he’s beautiful? That you’re absolutely hopeless around him, maybe?” Mingyu began stripping his pillows of their pillowcases. “There’s no… No law against it, against telling someone that you like them. It’s all just nerves, and they can be hard to get over, but pushing through them can be worth it. If you truly want a real, lasting relationship with someone, you’re going to end up being vulnerable with them anyway.”

Seungcheol let out a long breath. He knew that was something he had a problem with, that he had a hard time being vulnerable--looking “weak”--around other people, but he also knew that Mingyu was right. There was something to be said for courting someone, for getting to know them and trying to feel out how they felt, but with the way he and Jeonghan had just gone from zero--okay, from fifteen or twenty maybe, with the way they’d been on two “dates” and Seungcheol had actually set his home screen to that cute Jeonghan picture, and changed Jeonghan’s name to something a bit cuter in his phone, but  _ still _ \--to a hundred did call for something a bit more drastic.

“But what if he doesn’t--”

“Then he doesn’t.” Mingyu said quickly, before Seungcheol fully let the thought out. He gathered his dirty sheets into his arms. “And that sucks. But he would let you down lightly. He’s not an asshole, Seungcheol.” 

Seungcheol knew that. It didn’t help the twist of nerves in his stomach though. Running away from this and hiding until graduation still felt like an appealing option, and maybe Mingyu could tell that, because he fixed Seungcheol with a look. 

“You need to think about this situation from his perspective.” He said. “About how he must feel right now.”

Seungcheol didn’t really want to. Jeonghan wasn’t seeing him be twisted up over feelings; all Jeonghan had to go on was the fact that Seungcheol had left his bed empty, and how that must look, and it made Seungcheol feel like he deserved to be put six feet under. He ran his hands through his hair.

“Should I--now?” He had to apologize. He had to confess. “When should I tell him?” 

Mingyu fell silent for a moment.

“Well, the best time would have been when, a year ago?” He asked back, and Seungcheol didn’t have the energy to look annoyed with him. “The second best time would have been this morning. So… Literally whenever, I think.”

“Should I…”  _ Fuck.  _ “Should I just call him?”

Mingyu shrugged. “I would.” 

Seungcheol pulled his phone from his pocket. Mingyu clapped him on the shoulder, then took himself and his bedsheets out of the room. Before Seungcheol could even begin giving himself the pep talk he needed though, his phone lit up in his hand. 

_ From: Hannie  
_ _ Are we still having lunch today? _

Seungcheol’s heart flew into his throat. He’d forgotten that he and Jeonghan had another “date” today; they had planned, even before Joshua had decided to have a party, to meet up at a cute cafe, taking pictures of themselves holding hands and eating food. After a lengthy internal battle--part of Seungcheol wanting to reschedule, part of Seungcheol wanting to know how Jeonghan was feeling, with how completely devoid of emotion the text message was, part of Seungcheol wanting to just go through with his original resolve and actually call Jeonghan--he made a decision. This would be a better thing to talk about in person. He would confess to Jeonghan, face to face. 

_ To: Hannie  
_ _ Sure _

_ From: Hannie  
_ _ Okay, see you then _

Mingyu was supportive of the whole face-to-face plan, and after a completely unsought pep talk from Mingyu, composed mostly of Mingyu asking him if he was willing to do what it took to get into Jeonghan’s pants again and Seungcheol telling him to shut up, Seungcheol was out the door.

The whole walk was nerve-wracking, but it was a relief to see Jeonghan smile at him when they met up at the coffee shop. Seungcheol tried to smile back, and hoped he didn’t look like he was about to vomit all over himself. With the way Jeonghan’s eyes lingered on him, Seungcheol had a feeling he wasn’t doing the best job. 

They got tea and they got pastries, Jeonghan dragging him back to a secluded corner by the hand. Seungcheol was surprised when Jeonghan didn’t let his hand go, that surprise just growing when Jeonghan brought his hand up and kissed his knuckles. 

“Where’s your phone?” Jeonghan asked after a moment, a grin on his face, his lips brushing Seungcheol’s hand yet again when he spoke. “I’m not going to act this cute for free, you know.” 

Oh, right. Pictures of their date. Seungcheol pulled his phone out.

It felt weird, truth be told, Seungcheol retracting his hand as soon as the picture he took was to Jeonghan’s liking. It was a weird behavior and he knew it, because he was usually the definition of clingy; before, he would let Jeonghan hold his hand as long as he had wanted. Jeonghan noticed it, and he looked at Seungcheol with pursed lips for a moment. It wasn’t the kind of expression Seungcheol wanted to see on Jeonghan’s face before he confessed his feelings, but he opened his mouth anyway. Jeonghan beat him to it.

“I guess we need to talk about this.” He said, sitting back in his chair.

“I’m sorry.” Seungcheol felt the need to say. Because he was, especially for leaving like he did. Jeonghan took the word in, letting out a slow nod. 

“It’s okay.” He finally said. “It’s probably good, right?” 

“It is?” Seungcheol asked back. He’d been prepared for a couple of different reactions from Jeonghan, and this wasn’t one of them. 

“I think so. We’ve been on a couple of dates now, and that--what happened probably got some stuff out of the way, you know? We can’t act all cute and blushy forever, if we want to keep this up. Things will probably look more natural now. It’ll be more convincing.” 

More convincing. Right. Because from the beginning, this had all been fake. It still was. It was  _ fake,  _ and while Seungcheol knew that, hearing it hit him so hard that for a moment, breathing hurt a little. 

Somewhere in the middle of all of his own hangups, Seungcheol had let himself think otherwise. Between all the cute pictures and smiles and soft touches, he’d let himself believe that he’d affected Jeonghan at all. Jeonghan was running this scam, and running it beautifully; Seungcheol just wasn’t as good of an actor, he supposed.

He knew that their relationship wasn’t nothing. They weren’t completely meaningless to each other, and he believed Jeonghan saying that he enjoyed Seungcheol’s company. He could believe that Jeonghan thought of him as a friend. But he was still a prop, still a part of the front that Jeonghan was putting on, and he’d somehow forgotten to carry that part of the equation. 

Jeonghan had done his part at the start, asking Seungcheol if he was sure about this, letting Seungcheol know that it was fine for him to back out. Seungcheol hadn’t backed out. He’d assured Jeonghan that he would be okay. So he had to be okay with it. He bit the confession off of his tongue, swallowing it down into his chest. 

“I mean--I had a great time, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Jeonghan told him, sitting up straight again. He looked a bit worried. “You didn’t--I can hold my alcohol okay. I wasn’t too out of it. You didn’t take advantage of me, or whatever; you don’t have anything to apologize for.” 

“Okay. That’s good.” Seungcheol managed out. Jeonghan truly was fine, if he was brushing off Seungcheol’s apology. He didn’t even care that he’d woken up alone. 

“I knew you would be a good kisser.” Jeonghan said, a teasing grin on his face now. “I could tell.” 

“Thanks.” Seungcheol responded, trying to smile, and Jeonghan laughed. 

“Here.” He picked up one of the cookies on his plate, extending it out to Seungcheol. “Eat this cookie.” 

Seungcheol took it, knowing what Jeonghan truly wanted, holding it up in front of his face instead. Jeonghan rolled his eyes a bit, but pulled his phone out and took a quick picture anyway. 

On the surface, the date wasn’t a bad one. It was about as fun as it could be, truth be told, but Seungcheol just couldn’t do it. The night before felt too recent, too raw, and even doing something as simple as holding Jeonghan’s hand was a contact that was too bright. Paired with the way he’d just gotten his heart stomped on, this was the first time since meeting him that Seungcheol didn’t want to be around Jeonghan, and he absolutely hated the feeling.

He knew that Jeonghan could tell. He didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to elaborate, and he knew Jeonghan could tell that too; Jeonghan just glanced at him more, trying to joke his way around the subject, the expression on his face suggesting that he was considering sending Seungcheol a “get well soon” card. 

Jeonghan texted him almost as soon as they were no longer in sight of each other. 

_ Are you sure I can post these? _

He attached the photos he’d taken with the text, and Seungcheol took a breath. He needed to act normal.

_ Of course you can! I can post mine too, right?  _

Jeonghan’s response took a couple of minutes. 

_ You have to. I look too cute for you not to. _

Yesterday, Seungcheol would have agreed, would have sent back a type of message that would prompt heart and angel emojis out of Jeonghan. Today, he left the message on read. He was nearly back to the dorm when Mingyu texted him, sending him a screenshot of Jeonghan’s instagram page and a slew of question marks. 

_ 1004_yjh: tea with this sweet cookie. _

The red heart emoji. Always the red heart emoji. 

_ It didn’t happen.  _ Seungcheol sent back.  _ He spoke before I did. Said it didn’t mean anything.  _

Mingyu’s response took a few minutes too. 

_ In Vernon and Minghao’s room. Making japchae. But if you don’t want to join us, I’ll save you a plate.  _

He’d added a heart emoji too. Letting out a breath, Seungcheol entered the dorm, and began to climb the stairs.

  
  


Seungkwan could honestly say that he was having a wonderful weekend. He’d gone to a party that hadn’t felt straight out of a bad drama; it had actually been fun. He’d got to see the guy he had a crush on--a crush that was already shaping up to be completely devastating, but still--act like a bit of an idiot, and it had been  _ cute— _ and he’d made some new friends.

He was really loving his new friends. He absolutely adored texting Minghao, and while he’d only had Soonyoung’s number for about twenty-four hours, he’d already been dragged into an argument that Wonwoo, Soonyoung, and Chan had gotten into while drunk--an argument that, surprisingly, hadn’t been completely dropped when they’d sobered up--about whether or not gay chickens should be able to get married, as well as a group chat with Seokmin and Soonyoung himself. He didn’t quite understand Junhui, but had gotten the idea that “I don’t get it” was kind of Junhui’s whole vibe, so he was trying not to let it bother him. 

He and Vernon already had plans to hang out later in the week, as well as a promise for Seungkwan to be on the air again, because the fundraiser was fast approaching and they were allowing him to promote it one more time. Mingyu’s extremely elated text about how he’d kissed Jihoon was just the icing on the cake. 

Seungkwan wanted to be happy with his friends around him, but Seokmin and Chan had mysteriously disappeared. He hadn’t actually seen Chan all day, but Seokmin had gone out in search of some lunch and hadn’t returned. Neither of them responded to his questioning text messages either, so finally, he gave Chan a call. 

“Hello?”

“Where--hello?” Seungkwan asked back, realizing the voice on the other line wasn’t the one he’d expected to hear. He didn’t know why Joshua, of all people, would be answering Chan’s phone. 

“Seokmin and Chan are at our place, if you’re wondering.” Joshua said, but based on the context clues, Seungkwan had already assumed that. “And… It kind of doesn’t look like Jeonghan is planning on letting them go any time soon, so you can come over if you want to.”

“Are you sure?” Seungkwan asked. Joshua had just hosted a party, and he knew they hadn’t helped him clean up; going over there just two days later would be embarrassing, and he would understand if Joshua wanted to keep the company to a minimum. 

“No, really.” Joshua assured him. “Besides, Jeonghan might want to see you.” 

“Is… Is he okay?” 

Joshua didn’t really give him a straight answer, and that was concerning all on its own, Seungkwan deciding to make his way over. He walked into Joshua’s apartment to a relatively familiar sight; Jeonghan reclined on the couch, Seokmin on one end with Jeonghan’s legs in his lap. Chan was on the other end of the piece of furniture, and Jeonghan’s upper body was resting against him, and Chan looked a bit panicked about it. 

Chan’s nervousness must have been from a near-stranger cuddling him, the situation seeming to sit just on the edge of his comfort zone, because Jeonghan did not look devious at all. He looked exhausted, truth be told, his eyes only half-open, his expression a little pained. 

“Are you okay?” Seungkwan asked. 

“He shouldn’t have gone out yesterday.” Joshua said, and Jeonghan shot him an annoyed look. 

“I had plans with Seungcheol.” He said. 

“Yeah, but after the party on Friday--”

“What’s wrong?” Seungkwan asked again, and Joshua stopped his worried nagging with a light exhale.

“My joints hurt.” Jeonghan’s voice was whiny in a way that meant his words were genuine, but he was trying to exaggerate them as to not worry anyone. “Standing up hasn’t been a great idea either.” 

Jeonghan had explained his fatigue syndrome to Seungkwan in the past, but Seungkwan still didn’t truly understand it, especially after he’d thrown in the term “orthostatic intolerance”. All Seungkwan really knew was that Jeonghan had gotten mononucleosis when he was eight, and had never fully recovered. 

“Do you want me to get you something?” Seungkwan offered. “Food? Coffee?” 

Jeonghan shook his head, his cheek squishing against Chan’s shoulder. 

“I’m sad.” 

“Because you don’t feel good?”

“Because Seungcheol doesn’t like me.” Jeonghan amended, a heavy sigh in his voice, and that had Seungkwan raising an eyebrow. Seokmin rubbed lightly at Jeonghan’s shins in sympathy. 

“Aren’t you guys dating? He didn’t--” He’d never had the opportunity to give Seungcheol the shovel talk. He should have done it on Friday, when he’d had the chance. “Did he break up with you?” 

Jeonghan was quiet for a long moment, and Joshua heaved a sigh even heavier than Jeonghan’s had been, getting up from the floor next to the couch and walking into the kitchen. Jeonghan caught the motion, following Joshua with his eyes.

“Shua, if you call me stupid while I’m sad, I’ll cry.” He warned. Seungkwan was starting to get the feeling that something else was going on. He just gave Jeonghan a questioning glance, and Jeonghan looked too tired to be dramatic about it all, letting his head slip into Chan’s lap. Chan’s eyes went the size of saucers. “Seungcheol’s not my boyfriend.” 

Seungkwan found that a confusing answer to his question. 

“So… He did break up with you?”

“No, like--ever. He wasn’t ever my boyfriend.”

“...I don’t get it.” Seungkwan confessed and, sounding like it was an absolutely herculean task, Jeonghan explained. That the jerk from the tennis team had actually made a move, that Seungcheol had defended him--and that it was very hot, which Jeonghan felt the need to emphasize multiple times--and that they were pretending to be together to keep the guy at bay. That aside from kissing him on the cheek a couple of times, all they’d done was hold hands. But then the night of the party had happened.

“But we--I mean, you know, we…” Jeonghan paused, then glanced up at Chan’s face. “How old are you?” 

“Old enough.” Chan responded, looking slightly petulant. 

“Well, for the sake of Seokminnie’s precious ears, let’s just say he spent the night in my room.” Jeonghan said. Seungkwan’s jaw dropped. “And when I woke up in the morning, he was gone.”

Seungkwan’s jaw fell all the way to the floor. 

“He left without waking you?” He asked in shock. Jeonghan nodded. 

“Him leaving did kind of jostle me a little bit, and I… I don’t know what I expected, but eventually I texted him to see if he still wanted to meet up. I was already tired, and I really should have canceled.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Jeonghan sighed. “It was awful.”

“What happened?” Seungkwan asked, worried by his friend’s distressed expression, unsure if it was from fatigue pain, or from recollection of the incident. 

“He was so uncomfortable.” Jeonghan closed his eyes. “He just… He didn’t look like he wanted to be there. He didn’t even want to touch me. I ended up just telling him to forget about it, because I couldn’t stand it. He didn’t try to argue.” 

The words hung there for a moment, Jeonghan repositioning his head on Chan’s thigh and staring at the ceiling. 

“I’m sorry.” Seungkwan finally said. 

“I really thought he liked me.” Jeonghan said. “And I… He has to know I like him back. He has to.” 

“If you haven’t told him, then maybe--” Seokmin started, and Jeonghan lifted his head up to look at him. The movement looked like it took a tremendous amount of energy.

“Could you tell that I like him?” Jeonghan asked.

“Well, yeah, but--”

“Then he has to know.” Jeonghan let his head fall back down, so heavy that Chan winced a bit. “If you know, everyone knows.”

“Hey!” Seokmin protested, but his indignance brought a small smile to Jeonghan’s lips, so it wasn’t a complete waste. 

“You never listen to me.” Joshua was standing in the kitchen, a sports drink in his hand, the cold bottle sweating water droplets down his hands and onto the floor. “He does like you, Han.”

“I told you not to be mean to me.” Jeonghan said back. 

“How is that mean? If you would stop being an idiot--”

“There it is.” 

“--and actually  _ talk  _ to him--”

“Says the person with a two-year unrequited crush.”

“--and be willing to be vulnerable for once--”

“Because you’re so brave.”

“--stop it.” Seungkwan had never seen Joshua angry before, not angry at another person that was there in the room with him, and he found himself holding his breath. Jeonghan just let his head loll away from Joshua, and Joshua let out an audible exhale. 

“He likes you.” Joshua said again. “He looks at you like you hung the moon. He--no, he looks at you like you managed to trick someone else into hanging the moon for you, and he’s absolutely enamored by it.” 

Jeonghan didn’t respond. Seungkwan couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t have the energy to argue, or because he didn’t actually have a rebuttal. 

“I just want to kiss him again.” Jeonghan said, his voice soft.

“When’s the next time you’re going to see him?” Seungkwan asked.

“Later this week. He’s picking me up from tennis practice.” Jeonghan frowned. “It’s the last time, actually. We’d planned all the dates we’ve been on now in advance; I said that I would only keep him around for a little while, since he managed to scare the asshole off so easily. I was betting on being able to get him to make a move before time was up.” 

“When you see him, just lay one on him.” Chan said, enthusiasm in his voice; he seemed to have finally eased himself into the whole “cuddling with a stranger” situation. “Full force. Straight on the mouth. Slip him the tongue if you can.” 

“Chan--” Seungkwan started, feeling exasperated; Chan had next to no tact, he was coming to find.

“What?” Chan asked back, always ready to argue. It was kind of one of Seungkwan’s favorite things about him. “Either he likes it, and that’s good, or he doesn’t, but then at least Jeonghan got his tongue in there, so it’s really a win-win situation.”

“I like the way you think.” Jeonghan said, before announcing to the room at large, letting his head bounce on Chan’s thigh again, “I like this one.” 

Though Seungkwan didn’t really feel that the words were a jab at him, Chan stuck his tongue out in Seungkwan’s direction anyway, so Seungkwan was contractually obligated to stick his tongue out back.

Seungkwan’s phone lit up in his hand. It was a text from Vernon, a question of whether their hangout was still on, and Seungkwan picked the device up quickly to give an affirmative response.

“What are you smiling about?” Jeonghan asked him, Joshua reentering the room, peering over Seungkwan’s shoulder as he did.

“Oh, you’re texting Vernon?”

“When is he not texting Vernon?” Chan asked.

“I could have told you that.” Seokmin said, and Seungkwan appreciated that he didn’t sound burdened, like Chan. Then he innocently gave out a much-too-revealing piece of information. “That’s his Vernon smile.”

“Hey!” Seungkwan exclaimed. “I don’t--I don’t have a  _ Vernon smile,  _ what does that even mean?” 

“You totally do.” Chan said. “And it means you have a big blushy crush on him, and you’ve already picked out what names your future kids are going to have.” 

“No I haven’t!” Seungkwan exclaimed. But the defense wasn’t very convincing, even to his own ears; the truth of knowing that he just might have imagined how Vernon would be with children was weighing on the words. And that weight turned a bit into guilt when he had to admit that he’d imagined the kids were his. Theirs. Whatever. He hadn’t picked out any names anyway, and that’s what Chan was accusing him of. 

“You like him though, right?” Joshua asked. Seungkwan considered lying, but knew he would be called on it almost instantly, so he nodded instead.

“Yeah. I do.” 

“It’s adorable.” Seokmin told Jeonghan emphatically, and Chan was grinning. 

“But!” Seungkwan raised his hand in a way that he knew was--and had intended to be--dramatic. “I am not going to do anything about it. I’m going to pine, listen to  _ Love Sick  _ by TTS for three weeks straight, and get over myself.” 

“Well, you just have this whole thing completely figured out.” Jeonghan remarked. 

“What are you talking about?” Chan asked, and he looked genuinely distressed that Seungkwan wasn’t going to try getting into his coworker’s pants.

“He’s taken.” Seungkwan said, trying not to sigh and only succeeding a little bit. “And he’s straight, so really--” 

“Did he tell you this?” Joshua asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Well no, but he has someone. This girl named ‘Sofia’.” Seungkwan tried to keep the contempt from his voice. Again, he only succeeded a little. “They talk a lot. He’s mentioned her a lot.” 

“I really don’t think…” Chan looked hesitant.

“I saw, Chan.” Seungkwan appreciated the doubt, but he’d seen their text messages with his own eyes. “They text ‘I love you’ to each other all the time. It’s sweet. I’m happy for him.” 

“No you’re not.” Jeonghan countered.

“Of course I’m not!” Seungkwan exclaimed, and Seokmin laughed out loud. “He is human perfection, and he just wants to be  _ friends,  _ and it’s going to actually kill me.” He flopped onto his back on the floor for good measure, but wasn’t there for long; Joshua reached down and poked him in the stomach, Seungkwan making an undignified squawking noise as he sat up again, clutching at his middle.

“I don’t know about the whole ‘Sofia’ thing.” Joshua said. “But… I do know that Vernon is bi.”

“How?!” 

“He told me.” 

“Oh.” Well. That wasn’t--well, it wasn’t completely relevant, because Vernon still wasn’t single. It put a smile on Seungkwan’s face anyway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the lack of verkwan in this chap!!! unfortunately I am a jigyuist OTL but there will be plenty of them in the next one, I promise ♡


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I hope this final part finds you well, a huge thank you to everyone that's enjoyed this fic so far!!
> 
> additional warning in this chapter for joshua using a bible verse as an instagram caption lol

“You didn’t tell me you were into guys.” 

That was the first thing Seungkwan said to him when they met up for another aimless, ice cream, walk around campus, not-date thing. It was later than it had been the first time, the sun properly down. The words almost knocked Vernon on his ass.

“...what?” He had to ask, after staring at Seungkwan for a moment.

“That you’re bi! You didn’t tell me!” Seungkwan looked strangely upset about it. “The first time I met you it was to promote a fundraiser for the gays, and I know--I know that coming out is personal, and you aren’t obligated to do it or anything, but--it was kind of the perfect time, don’t you think?” 

“I mean, I don’t really try to hide it, but it just didn’t come up.” Vernon said. “How did you find out?”

“Joshua told me. I was a little worried about him just, I don’t know, saying something so personal, but Chan assured me that it would be okay. That you would be glad that I knew.” Seungkwan shrugged, and Vernon tried not to choke on his spoon. “So this is me letting you know that I know. You know, so you know who knows.” 

“Stop saying ‘know’.” Vernon implored, though the hilarity of the situation was starting to sink in. That Seungkwan had apparently assumed him to be straight, despite the fact that Vernon was actively planning on using tonight to make a move, and see where it led. He genuinely thought he’d been more obvious. “You’re making my head hurt.” 

“What’s in there to hurt?” Seungkwan asked back. “Isn’t it just full of air?” 

Vernon shoved at him, Seungkwan letting out a light giggle as he stumbled away a few paces. When he returned to Vernon’s side there was a bit of distance there; Vernon tried to step closer, close enough for their hands to brush if they swung a little too much, but Seungkwan stepped away again. Vernon tried not to frown. The silence was noticeable, palpable, and when Seungkwan spoke his voice felt a little too loud. 

“Did Chan ever tell you how he and I met?” He asked. Vernon thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“No, actually. He just said that he’d made a new friend, and that I would love him forever when he told me who it was.”

“Ugh, of course he did.” Seungkwan sighed, and Vernon couldn’t help but find it sweet that despite having known Chan for even less time than Vernon himself had, Seungkwan already talked about him like they were--or, maybe, that they would be--long-time friends. “Well, there was this complete _jerk_ that was leaving super rude sticky notes on my dorm room door…” 

The story was undoubtedly a fun one, but even better than the tale was the way Seungkwan told it, all large gestures and silly voices and exaggerated expressions. Vernon laughed a lot, unable to help it, enjoying the satisfied smile that made its way onto Seungkwan’s face as he spoke. 

“And now he tries to goad me into a fistfight every day, so he’s my sworn enemy forever.” Seungkwan concluded. Vernon was still laughing about the last thing Seungkwan had said, and at that he clutched at Seungkwan’s shoulder, stumbling a bit, Seungkwan smiling as he looked at Vernon. His eyes were open, his eyebrows raised and drawn together slightly in amused concern.

“I didn’t think it was that funny.” He remarked, the words coming out through a laugh. 

“It’s not--I mean, it was funny.” Vernon said. “But it’s kind of the way you told it, though.”

“You’re laughing at me?” Seungkwan asked, more incredulous than offended. 

“No!” Vernon exclaimed. “You’re so animated. It’s like… You’re really cute, Seungkwan.” 

It was a compliment that he’d wanted to give since he’d met Seungkwan, unable not to smile as Seungkwan went pink and completely stopped walking. 

“...what?” Seungkwan said. 

“I like watching you talk.” Vernon told him, trying to make it a casual compliment, continuing to walk. Seungkwan just stood there for a few more moments, looking embarrassed but also a bit pleased, and it was a better reaction than when he’d tried to walk closer, so Vernon was pleased too.

It took a bit of a jog for Seungkwan to catch up, and they walked quietly for a few paces, Vernon trying to think of what to do, or say. He’d just made up his mind to try to let his hand fall next to Seungkwan’s and maybe hook their pinky fingers together when Seungkwan spoke up.

“Hey, Vernon?”

“Yeah?” 

Seungkwan looked strangely nervous, his voice strangely soft.

“Thanks for continuing to ask me to hang out with you.” Seungkwan wasn’t looking at him. “I’m really glad that we’re friends.”

Vernon gave a small nod. It was an oddly heavy thing to say, despite the kindness of the words. It didn’t bother him though. Seungkwan--as he was wont to do, Vernon was discovering--misread his silence.

“I’m sorry--wow, that was _so_ weird, I just felt happy and the words just kind of--I didn’t mean--I’m sorry if you--” 

“Hey, why do you do that?” Vernon asked, deciding to cut off Seungkwan’s apologetic rambling before he got himself worked up. Seungkwan blinked at him in surprise. 

“Do what?”

“Apologize for stuff.” Vernon said. “Stuff you don’t have to apologize for.” 

“Oh.” Seungkwan was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. Because I need to, I guess?”

“You don’t, though.” Seungkwan was looking slightly taken aback by his insistence, so Vernon backed off. “I’m glad you said that. It was really nice. Okay?” 

“Okay.” Seungkwan just looked at him for a few moments, something that could be a muted smile starting on his lips, so Vernon went for it; he reached across the few inches between them, hooking his right pinky finger around the pinky finger of Seungkwan’s left hand. 

It was nice, and they walked a few more paces, and Vernon really just wanted to hold Seungkwan’s hand in earnest when Seungkwan glanced down at their fingers.

“A promise?” He asked.

“Sure.” Vernon responded, unsure of what it was he was promising Seungkwan, but willing to do it anyway. Seungkwan completely drew his hand away, and took the steps to put space between them again. Vernon wasn’t sure what to do with that.

The whole hangout went that way. Vernon would say something, or do something, and Seungkwan’s initial reaction was a sweet one, but then he turned and drew back instead. It had Vernon rethinking his plan to try properly hitting on Seungkwan, and when they decided to part ways, despite the fun he’d had seeing Seungkwan again, he felt a little weird, too. 

When he returned to his room, Minghao was laying facedown on his bed. He also had a streak of yellow paint behind his ear. 

“Hey.” Vernon greeted, and Minghao lifted his face from his pillow. 

“Okay.” Minghao said. It wasn’t a greeting, but Minghao didn’t seem to care. “Here’s the plan.” 

“...plan?” Vernon asked back. He’d kind of hoped to talk to his roommate about his boy problems, but Minghao barreled on without answering his question. 

“Step one: you kill me.” 

“I officially don’t agree with this plan.” Vernon said, and Minghao struggled himself into a sitting position.

“No, it’s a good one--”

“No plan is good if it starts like that.”

“Seriously! Listen. You kill me.” Minghao was insistent, so Vernon sighed and sat next to his friend on his bed, his eyebrows raised. “One or two stab wounds would be ideal, because I _need_ to have a pretty corpse, but if you think you can’t get the job done like that, just strangle me.”

“...what the hell are you talking about?” 

“Step two: you find out, after translating my final wishes--because there’s no way in hell I’m writing them in hangul--that I left you all of my most fashionable clothes. Mingyu will be sad, and will try to steal them from you. Do not let him.” 

Vernon began to laugh, leaning slightly against Minghao’s shoulder.

“Is this about what I wore to see Seungkwan tonight?” He asked, plucking at his Hawkins High School t-shirt.

“No. I mean, you are wearing an ascot, which is an entirely different conversation, but it would end with you in the ground, not me.” 

“Thanks.”

“Step three: be fashionable so that I don’t have to haunt you. Because I will. Also, stop eating so much ice cream.” 

“What’s wrong with ice cream?”

“Cold dairy is bad for your body.” 

“Is… That what this is about? To get me to stop eating ice cream? Because that’s not going to work either.” 

“Not everything is about you.” Minghao told him. “I’m the dead one, remember?”

“And why is that, exactly?” 

“Because you can’t be stupid when you’re dead.” Minghao said. While true, that answer wasn’t really giving Vernon anything, so he looked around a bit. Minghao had a few streaks of paint on him; behind his ear, on the back of his neck, and, oddly enough, on his shirt and pants where the two pieces of clothing connected.

“Did you… Are you mad because you got paint on yourself?” 

“I--I did what? Where?” 

Vernon pointed around, and Minghao let out a long-suffering groan. 

“Fine!” He exclaimed, like Vernon had somehow caught him in a lie. “Fine. I made out with Junhui.” 

“You did _what?”_

“At the party. Like--twice. And then he texted me again today, but I was in the art club room working, and he met me there, and…”

Paint. The back of Minghao’s neck. The hem on the base of his shirt, and the waistband of his pants. 

“...how gross is this about to be?” Vernon asked. Because Minghao was his friend, and Minghao could tell him if he needed to, but Vernon wanted a bit of warning first. 

“Not that gross.” Minghao promised. “I just told myself I wouldn’t do this, you know? That when we kissed at the party, that would be it.”

“Why?” Vernon asked. “I mean, you like him, don’t you?”

“What? No.” Minghao looked exaggeratedly affronted. The expression also looked incredibly fake. “He--he’s Condom Guy, Vernon.”

“He’s also handsome, and he thinks you’re cute, and he can speak with you in your first language, which I know you like.” 

“Just because he looks straight out of every wet dream I’ve had since I was fifteen doesn’t mean I should keep doing this.”

“Why not?” 

“It’s embarrassing! I can’t fall in love after complaining about him for months!” 

“But you like him, though.” Vernon reminded him, Minghao’s eyes falling closed.

“I already want to see him again.” Minghao seemed not to have heard him. “Why does he have to be so good with his tongue?” 

“I genuinely don’t know how to answer that.” Vernon said, and Minghao let out another groan of anguish, flopping onto his bedspread again. Vernon gave him a sympathetic pat on the back. After a long moment, Minghao rolled over. 

“Judging by the tone of your ‘hey’ when you walked in, I’m guessing you didn’t get to kiss Seungkwan?” He asked. Vernon frowned. 

“Yeah. I don’t… I don’t know what to do about it.”

Minghao shot him a look.

“You’re you.” He said. “Just tell him you like him? Ask him out, maybe?” 

Normally, Vernon would. He didn’t like to play games, or beat around the bush. He liked someone, he told them, he asked them on a date. He got a yes or no, and took it from there. 

The complicated thing, though, was that he was friends with Seungkwan. He was friends with Seungkwan’s friends. He loved Seungkwan’s friendship already, and Seungkwan liked his friendship too. Seungkwan wanted to be his friend--that much obvious by the touching and serious statement he had made earlier--and had shied away from anything else Vernon had tried, so Vernon made a decision. He was just going to try his best to just be Seungkwan’s friend. 

He would also try his best not to stare at Seungkwan’s ass, but he was only human. 

His resolve was challenged the next week, when Seungkwan was on the radio with him again. They played games again, but Seungkwan was noticeably more comfortable, and as a result he won more often. It was incredibly fun, Seungkwan adorably pleased with himself, Vernon unable not to smile at him. Seungkwan got the last song, the extreme pep of _Lipstick_ by Orange Caramel playing in the background when Vernon felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. 

It was Sofia; she’d seen a turtle while out on a walk, and had felt it extremely important to take a picture of it, photoshop Vernon’s face onto it, and send it to him. 

_You’d better laugh at this!!! I spent thirty minutes on it._

Vernon couldn’t not laugh, the sound jumping from his chest. He could feel Seungkwan peering curiously over his shoulder, so he angled the phone screen in his direction. 

“It’s just this.” He said, tapping on the picture. “My sister sent it to me.” 

“Your--” Seungkwan cut himself off, looking much more surprised than the information called for. “I didn’t know you had a sister.” 

“Yeah!” Vernon couldn’t believe it hadn’t come up before. “She texts me dumb stuff all the time. My first year of school I went home nearly every weekend to see her.”

“And her name is Sofia?” Seungkwan asked, pointing to Vernon’s phone. At Vernon’s nod, Seungkwan seemed to visibly relax. 

They wrapped up the show, declaring themselves done. Like last time, Seokmin had come with Seungkwan to the radio station, but he’d tagged along at Jihoon’s request instead; he was recording the song Jihoon had written, and they’d looped Chan in as well, helping Jihoon with the microphones and the equipment. They popped their heads in for a moment, but all three of them looked busy, and decided to leave them alone instead of lingering. Seungkwan turned in front of the door, facing Vernon instead of walking through it, and with an expression that suggested that it was taking a monumental effort to say, asked,

“Would you like to walk me home?” 

“I…” Vernon blinked for a moment. “Yeah, I would love to.” 

This was new. This was different. Between the last time he’d seen Seungkwan and now, something had changed, and Vernon could not for the life of him figure out what it was. Seungkwan beamed at him. 

“I have two sisters.” Seungkwan said, once they’d started out. Seungkwan’s dorm room was completely across campus from the radio station, a solid twenty minute walk, and Vernon was looking forward to the whole thing. “They live back home. In Jeju, I mean. I miss them, but it’s nice that they’re not vetting every new guy I meet anymore.” 

That made Vernon laugh. “Did they scare everyone away?”

“They tried! And then the only ones that knew what was good for them and got away from me were all the nice ones, I think.”

“Oh?” That didn’t sound great, especially paired with the way Seungkwan was frowning. “A couple of bad relationships?”

Seungkwan wasn’t looking at him, letting out a long sigh. 

“We shouldn’t talk about this. It’s all stupid and serious, I’m sorry.” 

“We can though, if you want.” Vernon offered, and Seungkwan smiled at him. “What, were you cheated on or something?”

“Yep.” Seungkwan let the word go lightly. “Once.” 

“You? Seriously? How could they?” 

Seungkwan looked over, laughed out loud, and hit Vernon on the shoulder.

“Don’t act so surprised! You’re embarrassing.”

“What did you do?” Vernon asked.

“What, like, with his body?” Seungkwan asked back, and Vernon laughed out loud. They talked about family and past relationships, and Seungkwan was noticeably more comfortable during this talk than he had been days before. It was nice, and it was fun, and despite the walk being nearly a mile, Vernon was sorry when they finally reached the door to enter Seungkwan’s dorm. 

“So, um…” Seungkwan swayed slightly, seemed to get embarrassed about nothing, covered his face with one hand, and let out a light laugh. He was the cutest person Vernon had ever seen. “Thanks for the walk.” 

“Anytime.” 

Inexplicably, Seungkwan reached out, poking Vernon’s shoulder. “Text me when you get back to your place, okay? So I know you made it back alive.” 

“Okay.” Vernon said, despite his desire to come up with some kind of quip in response; he was incredibly confused. Because this--this felt like flirting, and while he definitely didn’t hate it, he didn’t understand where it was coming from. 

Vernon started back. It was only ten minutes into his walk when Seungkwan sent him a message.

_Did you forget to text me??_

Vernon laughed a little. _I still have ten more minutes! I’m not running home or anything._

It took two full minutes to get a response, and Vernon could almost hear Seungkwan’s voice.

 _HANSOL VERNON CHWE ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW DOES IT ACTUALLY TAKE YOU TWENTY MINUTES TO GET FROM YOUR DORM TO MINE_

_...yes?_

_THEN WHY DID YOU AGREE TO WALK ME HOME???_

_...because I wanted to?_

Almost five minutes, this time. 

_You’re perfect. I hate you. Shut up._

Vernon wasn’t going to try and argue with that.

  
  


Jihoon wasn’t sure how he’d ended up here.

He was pretty sure he hadn’t agreed to it. He did know that he’d texted Mingyu, asking if he was free after classes, asking if he wanted to come over. Mingyu had called him, and after a great deal of going back and forth and whining, Mingyu had confessed that he couldn’t, that he had a previous engagement, but that Jihoon was welcome to join him, if he wanted.

And now Jihoon found himself in an empty lecture hall, a pair of scissors in his hand, cutting pre-traced hearts out of red construction paper. But Mingyu was here too, laughing as Seokmin and Seungkwan tried to sing along to what Joshua was playing on his acoustic guitar, Chan cutting out some yellow stars next to him, and he was actually having a decently good time. 

They were making some decorations for the upcoming Pride Club fundraiser. Only a handful of the members were present, apparently--Jihoon didn’t know how many members the Pride Club had--only Mingyu, Seungkwan, Seokmin, and Joshua there. Seungkwan and Seokmin had also dragged Chan with them, but Chan wasn’t complaining. 

Jihoon wasn’t complaining either. Somehow, Mingyu was able to get him to leave his apartment and not hate it. Jihoon hadn’t yet worked out how that was possible. 

“I don’t know how to draw!” Seungkwan was whining. He and Mingyu had poster boards in front of them, as well as a pack of markers. Mingyu had dived in immediately, scribbling with intention. Seungkwan’s poster was still blank. 

“It doesn’t have to look nice.” Joshua said. Joshua was decidedly not helping them do much of anything, simply plucking at his guitar. It would occasionally actually turn into something they could sing along to, but mostly he just talked with them, and Jihoon found his complete commitment to not putting in any effort at all admirable. “It just needs to be a poster.” 

“I’m afraid!” Seungkwan cried. “I don’t want to mess it up.” 

“If you mess it up, just flip it over.” Mingyu said, not looking up. “You could draw on the back.” 

The back had a price sticker on it, which stressed Seungkwan out as well, Seokmin just nudging him and telling him to go ahead and get started. Still whining, Seungkwan finally did.

When Jihoon finished cutting the hearts out he didn’t ask for another task, going over instead to see what Mingyu was working on. The design was a bit juvenile, truth be told, especially how it was colored with markers, but it looked nice--if memory was serving him correctly, Mingyu was in some kind of art club with Minghao, so Jihoon knew he shouldn’t be too surprised--pulling an empty chair up next to Mingyu and sitting close. 

“It looks good.” He offered. The words were simple, and didn’t seem very exciting to Jihoon, but Mingyu turned to him with a bright smile. 

“Thanks.” Mingyu turned back to the poster board. “I don’t know. It looks a little busy to me, but whatever.” 

“I think it’s good.” Jihoon insisted, scooting in a bit more so he could more comfortably lean his head against Mingyu’s shoulder. He laid there for a few moments, but Mingyu had stopped coloring, so he glanced up in confusion. Mingyu was looking down at him, and something about the look in his eyes and the smile on his lips had his entire face looking soft around the edges. 

The usual ‘what?’ question was on the tip of Jihoon’s tongue again, but he didn’t ask it, because as embarrassing as it was, he knew the answer. He tried not to blush, but blushing wasn’t exactly a voluntary action, and Mingyu’s smile got even bigger, leaning in and pressing a kiss to Jihoon’s forehead. 

“Hey!” Chan complained, while Jihoon leaned away off Mingyu’s shoulder; the sudden distance had Mingyu pouting at him. “Some of us are single, you know.” 

“Yeah, well I’m not.” Jihoon said. “So deal with it.” 

“Wait, are you guys dating now?” Joshua asked, pointing between them, and Mingyu began nodding so quickly he looked like a bobble head, the action endearing and embarrassing at the same time. Joshua looked to Jihoon. “Does Soonyoung know?” 

“...does he need to?” Jihoon asked back. He wasn’t hiding anything, per se, but he wasn’t exactly shouting from the rooftops either. By how unsurprised Seungkwan looked by the news, he had a feeling that Mingyu might be doing enough shouting for the both of them. 

“I mean, he’ll just be upset that he missed it. He’s been following this from the beginning, you know.”

“No, he hasn’t.” Jihoon hadn’t told Soonyoung he liked Mingyu until what, last week? Soonyoung might have drawn some of his own conclusions when he’d seen Mingyu in their apartment, but that was hardly the beginning. 

“He has!” Joshua insisted. “That day you came into the cafe. You know, when you were working on that song you were writing.” 

“Soonyoung wasn’t working on that day.” Jihoon said. This couldn’t be true. It couldn’t be true, because Soonyoung hadn’t teased him about it. 

“I know, but we were having a problem with the inventory I was trying to figure out, so I called Soonyoung about it. I was on the phone with him when Mingyu ran into the back, saying he’d seen you come in and that he was--and I quote--‘going for it’.”

That had Chan laughing out loud, Mingyu ducking his head in something that was probably supposed to be embarrassment, though there was a grin on his face when he glanced up and met Jihoon’s eyes. Jihoon, on the other hand, was trying to figure out when Mingyu had started liking him, if he’d really decided to set his eyes on Jihoon the second time they’d met. Things didn’t… Things didn’t just happen like that, and Jihoon had been rude during their first meeting, and Mingyu had doubtlessly been annoyed. 

“So, like a good friend, I said ‘get ‘em, tiger’. Then Soonyoung growled at me.” 

“Of course he did.” Jihoon couldn’t help but say, a sigh in his voice. “But--are you sure? Soonyoung knew that early?” 

“Why?” Joshua asked. 

“He just… He didn’t make fun of me for it, that’s all.” 

“Well--wait.” Mingyu looked him full in the face. “He knew that’s when I started liking you, when did--?” He cut himself off, looking surprised. Again, Jihoon willed his face not to burn, acutely aware of how intently Chan was listening. 

“Mingyu, you know about who I wrote that song about.” He said. “Think about when I started writing it.”

Watching the understanding dawn on Mingyu’s face did make Jihoon smile, and from the corner of his eye he saw Chan’s mouth drop open. 

“You wrote that song about _him?”_ Chan had helped him with record the song with Seokmin the other day, and was well aware of the lyrics with the multiple times they’d had to run the lines to get it perfect. “Really?” 

“Hey, why is that so surprising?” Mingyu asked, his voice loud and indignant, and they all began to laugh. 

Seungkwan still hadn’t done anything to his poster board, just fussing around while he uncapped and recapped the markers and with a sigh, Mingyu got up to help him. Within ten minutes, Seungkwan was just sitting back and directing Mingyu about what to do, Mingyu only half following directions, and Jihoon watched with amusement.

After another five minutes, even the direction stopped; Seungkwan had gotten a text, and was smiling like his face was going to split in half. 

“What did Vernon do now?” Chan asked, his voice exaggeratedly lofty. Seungkwan locked his phone and tried to glare, but it didn’t work very well. 

“Nothing.” Seungkwan tried very hard to keep himself from smiling. It took about three seconds for him to fail miserably, and Jihoon had to admit that it was pretty cute. “I mean… He texted me.”

“He does that all the time.” Mingyu said. “That’s not--”

“And!” Seungkwan interrupted, “I found out something.”

“What?” Seokmin asked with interest.

“He’s single.”

“...okay?”

“He’s single, and he’s bi, and I _like_ him.” Seungkwan looked delighted. None of this was news to Jihoon.

“Well, yeah.” He said. “I could have told you that.” 

“Why didn’t you?!” Seungkwan whined. “I spent the last two weeks feeling weird whenever it seemed like he might be flirting with me because I thought he had a girlfriend, and I didn’t want him to cheat on her.”

Jihoon raised an eyebrow. “A girlfriend?” 

“Shut up.” Seungkwan looked embarrassed now. “It was a reasonable assumption okay? He was talking a lot to this girl named Sofia, how was I supposed to know--”

Jihoon couldn’t help the laughing fit he fell into, and it was a good few minutes before he could breathe enough to speak. 

“You thought Vernon was dating his _sister?”_ He asked, incredulous. They spent nearly half an hour teasing Seungkwan about his crush, which Jihoon could tell Seungkwan both felt embarrassed by and enjoyed--“he’s not my crush, he’s my future husband, show some _respect,”--_ and it made Jihoon laugh. They weren’t fully finished with the decorations when they decided to throw in the towel, but there was going to be another rotation of Pride Club members working on them again tomorrow, so it wasn’t too much of a concern. 

“What do you want to do now?” Mingyu asked as they walked out into the evening. He reached down to take Jihoon’s hand, swinging it between them. Jihoon wanted to be sweet and say he was willing to do whatever Mingyu wanted, but in truth the time they’d spent socializing had worn him out, despite how fun it had been. He didn’t want to admit that, though.

“I don’t know.” He said instead. Mingyu glanced down at him. 

“How about…” He pretended to think, but he wasn’t that good at it; Jihoon could tell by the slight curl of his lips that Mingyu already had something in mind. “How about I make us dinner, and then we go into your room and make out on your bed for a couple of hours?” 

“You would want to do that?” Jihoon knew that Mingyu was someone that liked to go out and do things, see sights and have new experiences, and he didn’t want to keep Mingyu from making actual evening plans. Mingyu just looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Have I not told you about how sexy I think you are?” He asked Jihoon back, and Jihoon felt his face burn, swatting Mingyu’s arm with his hand instead, and Mingyu let out a loud bark of laughter. 

In truth, the evening sounded absolutely perfect. And it was perfect, the food that Mingyu made delicious, the feel of Mingyu’s hands on his hips as he pulled Jihoon into his lap and kissed him something Jihoon wanted to feel forever. But it was that thought, that exact thought, that gave him pause. 

Forever. The word had popped into his mind almost effortlessly, and it had taken him a few moments to even realize that it had slipped in, feeling too comfortable and automatic for Jihoon to notice. Mingyu was kissing him, sliding his hands down so that they rested open and palm-down on the tops of Jihoon’s thighs, and Jihoon had to pull away. 

He pulled away completely, getting off of Mingyu and climbing off his bed, and Mingyu was looking at him in concern and confusion. 

“...are you okay?” He finally asked. 

“I…” Jihoon swallowed. “I don’t know.” 

“Was this too much?” Mingyu asked, getting off the bed too, looking ready to start for the door if Jihoon wanted him gone. “Am I going too fast? I’m sorry, I--”

“No, it’s not you, it’s…”

Jihoon didn’t finish the sentence, despite the silence Mingyu gave him to do it.

“Jihoon, if you say something like ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ I might cry.” He said, and the words were meant to be light without being undermining. It worked, Jihoon huffing out a small breath that was almost a laugh. It made the air in the room feel better, made what he needed to do easier, and he decided to just say it.

“Mingyu, I… I really like you.” 

That hung in the air for a moment, and Mingyu dropped back down to sit on Jihoon’s bed. 

“Thank you…?”

“No, I really like you.” Jihoon said again, because saying it out loud had him realizing just how true it was. “I really, really like you.”

“I really like you too.” Mingyu said, the phrase open and easy, though he still looked confused. “Is that, like--bad, or something?”

Jihoon wasn’t sure yet. Mingyu held a hand out to him, Jihoon stepping forwards to take it, though he didn’t sit back down. 

“I don’t like to move.” Jihoon said. “Like… Even literally. I don’t like to leave my apartment. I don’t even really like to leave my room. Soonyoung has been my best friend since we were both fifteen, and I don’t see myself ever letting him go. I couldn’t.” 

Mingyu was simply sitting and listening, though it was clear on his face that he didn’t understand. But he’d done this before, just sat and listened, and Jihoon could believe that just like he had last time, he’d be patient, and try to understand him. That faith in Mingyu was the only thing that kept him talking.

“When people settle in--when I let them settle in--I settle in right next to them. I don’t want them to leave. And I… You already did, somehow, you’re already here, and I’m just--” _I’m just afraid_. “I like you a lot.”

“You said that already.” There was the smallest of smiles on Mingyu’s lips.

“...And I don’t want you to leave.” 

It was heavy, and Jihoon knew it, and for a moment, Mingyu didn’t answer. He simply sat there, holding Jihoon’s hand, though he did bring Jihoon’s knuckles up to his mouth. 

“Hey, Jihoon?” He finally asked, glancing up at Jihoon’s face. His lips brushed Jihoon’s knuckles as he spoke. 

“What?”

“I don’t plan on going anywhere.” 

That was all he said, and after a moment, Jihoon spoke.

“You’re going to have to give me a little more than that.” He said softly, and Mingyu laughed a little, grabbing at Jihoon’s fingers with his other hand too and pressing Jihoon’s knuckles to his forehead, like he was trying to hide. 

“Sorry, I was trying to be dramatic.” He said, peeking up to meet his eyes, and Jihoon felt his stupid heart melt all over the floor. “I thought it was going to be romantic, for some reason.”

Jihoon laughed a little too, and Mingyu reached for Jihoon’s other hand, so Jihoon let him take it.

“I like you a lot too. I think about you all the time, seriously.” Mingyu said. “Just ask my friends. It’s kind of gross.” 

Jihoon laughed, and the tight feeling in his chest caused by baring his soul to Mingyu seemed to ease a bit.

“I’m taking this to be a green light to be as cheesy as I want with you.” Mingyu warned, and he was grinning, and Jihoon rolled his eyes. “And to tell you that you don’t have anything to worry about. Like I said; I don’t plan on going anywhere.” 

Jihoon walked in closer, and Mingyu spread his knees a bit so Jihoon could step between them. 

“Okay?” He asked, and Jihoon nodded a little. 

“Okay.” He responded, and Mingyu gave his hands a slight tug, though he didn’t need to; Jihoon was already leaning in. Relief from Mingyu’s reassurance washed through Jihoon’s body at the touch of his lips, and Jihoon couldn’t help the small laugh that rose in his throat, though it came out a bit shaky. 

“What’s wrong?” Mingyu murmured, and Jihoon laughed again. The embarrassment was hitting him now, albeit belatedly, and his whole face went warm. Jihoon leaned forwards to hide his face in Mingyu’s neck, letting Mingyu’s hands go to fully crawl into his lap, Mingyu laughing and wrapping his arms around him. 

“I kind of didn’t want to say all of that.” He admitted into Mingyu’s neck. Looking back on words, they felt desperate. Mingyu laughed again, squeezing Jihoon tightly for a moment before letting go. 

“Don’t worry. Being told nice things like… Super does it for me.” He said. He had a bit of a laugh in his voice, despite how truthful the words were, and it made Jihoon laugh too, a smile still on his lips when Mingyu turned his head and kissed him. 

  
  


Seungcheol was about to enter the Athletic Center and pick Jeonghan up from tennis practice. 

Seungcheol was also kind of dreading it, a little bit. And he hated that, hated not feeling excited or overjoyed to see Jeonghan, but he’d spent the past couple of days feeling hopeless about him, and having to see him in person would bring all of those sensations back into sharp focus. 

As a result, he was a little late, entering with only five minutes left of practice. Again, Jeonghan’s back was to him due to the side of the court he was on, and Seungcheol just let himself watch Jeonghan for a moment, watch the lines of his body and the way he moved and realize all over again just how far gone he was. 

Jeonghan turned when the coach called the end of practice, looking for Seungcheol, a huge smile that Seungcheol had a hard time believing wasn’t genuine breaking out on his face when their eyes met. 

He rushed over, placing himself in Seungcheol’s space, and Seungcheol held him, the wrap of his arms around Jeonghan’s waist feeling automatic. 

“Hi.” Jeonghan murmured, the smile on his lips even audible in his words, and he sounded so affectionate; how could Jeonghan act this well? Then he leaned in with clear intention, and before Seungcheol could pull himself together enough to even think of wanting to stop him, pressed a kiss to Seungcheol’s mouth. 

Seungcheol kissed back. He wanted to before he’d thought about it, knowing he probably shouldn’t but not caring. Then he realized that he really needed to care, pushing Jeonghan away as gently as he could, just as a teammate from across the court wolf-whistled at them. Instead of looking embarrassed, Jeonghan just leaned back enough to look at Seungcheol’s face, his arms still around his neck. 

“I’ll get my stuff.” He said, a promise to be quick in the way he spoke, and was gone. Seungcheol buried his face in his hands, telling himself to be stronger than this. He shouldn’t let himself get caught up anymore. 

Even so, when Jeonghan reached for his hand, Seungcheol let him take it. They were still in front of his teammates after all, and he’d seen Lawn Chair Dude out of the corner of his eye, and Seungcheol was still willing to do what he could to scorn the asshole. 

“How was practice?” Seungcheol asked, because they were friends. They were still supposed to be friends. 

“Good!” Jeonghan said brightly. “Really good, actually. It kind of reminded me of how much I loved it before--you know, before all of this happened.”

“That’s great.” Seungcheol said, and he meant it, and Jeonghan smiled at him. They were still holding hands, because it was a bit second nature by now, to do so when walking together; it was something Seungcheol had proposed they do, in case they ran into any of Jeonghan’s teammates while they were out. It had partially been a joke, a very flimsy ploy to hold Jeonghan’s hand, and by the way Jeonghan had laughed at him, Seungcheol was pretty sure that even at the time, Jeonghan had known that. Maybe Jeonghan knew everything. Maybe he’d known how Seungcheol felt from the beginning, and was just playing along for him. 

“Are you busy this weekend?” Jeonghan asked, and Seungcheol wondered briefly if he should lie. He didn’t think he would survive another “date” with Jeonghan with his heart intact. Maybe Jeonghan sensed his reluctance, because he continued, rubbing his thumb across Seungcheol’s hand. “The Pride Club is having a fundraiser event this Saturday, and I’m going to be there to help out, and since you’re my super sexy boyfriend…” 

He glanced up at the description, a slight grin on his face. Seungcheol still wasn’t sure. 

“I…” 

“Mingyu and Vernon will be there too.” Jeonghan said quickly. “Everyone that was at the party will be there, I think.”

It sounded like it was more of a friend gathering than a one-on-one event, and Seungcheol got the feeling it might look weird if he didn’t come, so he nodded.

“Sure, I’ll go.” 

“Thanks.” Jeonghan said. They were still holding hands.

For the most part--on the outside--everything was normal. Jeonghan still talked with him, still teased him, still squeezed his fingers when he laughed, and instead of being relieved that things hadn’t seemed to change, it made Seungcheol feel worse. How unaffected Jeonghan was just had him realizing how truly foolish he’d been.

He’d felt okay, felt more comfortable with all the playfully romantic back and forth he’d had with Jeonghan because he’d thought, on some level, that it had been mutual. Now that it was clear that it wasn’t, it was a bit uncomfortable. He just liked Jeonghan so much that it was hard, letting Jeonghan smile at him like it was Seungcheol that had him lighting up, and knowing he didn’t mean it.

A masochistic part of himself was watching Jeonghan with care, waiting to see the mask crack, wanting to see Jeonghan slip up. To his surprise though, for the entire walk home, he didn’t. He just kept holding Seungcheol’s hand, kept smiling at him, and Seungcheol couldn’t help himself once they reached Jeonghan’s apartment building, pulling his hand away. Jeonghan frowned at him.

“What?” He asked, and Seungcheol knew that his train of thought must be showing on his face, so he just decided to say it. 

“You’re really good at pretending you care. It’s amazing.” 

Jeonghan blinked at him. 

“Pretending I care? About what?” 

Seungcheol shrugged. “About me. This.” He gestured between himself and Jeonghan. He meant it as a compliment--a bit of a backwards compliment, but a compliment all the same--but Jeonghan took a full step back, the expression on his face suggesting Seungcheol might as well have slapped him.

“So I’m--I’m just pretending to care about you?” He asked. He asked like he was expecting an answer, and Seungcheol didn’t know what to say. Something had lit up in Jeonghan’s eyes. “At least I’m trying, Seungcheol.”

“Trying?” Seungcheol echoed. 

“Yes! You can’t even act like you want to touch me, or talk to me.”

Seungcheol had been under the impression that the “wanting to touch” part of their entire arrangement was horrifyingly obvious. 

“I know we didn’t plan on sleeping together, but do you really regret it that much?” Jeonghan asked. “That you can’t look me in the eye for more than two seconds?”

“No, that’s not… I don’t regret it, but--”

“That’s what you’re acting like.” Jeonghan told him, drawing in to himself. “You’re acting like you can’t stand me. We can’t even be friends?” 

Seungcheol swallowed. The guarded look in Jeonghan’s eyes was something he couldn’t stand, and he was the one making Jeonghan feel like this. Because he couldn’t get a grip and pull himself together.

“No.” He finally said. Maybe it would be better that way. Maybe it was for the best. “I don’t think we can.” 

He watched as Jeonghan’s jaw clenched, as Jeonghan looked down at the ground for a moment before glancing back up, looking right into Seungcheol’s eyes. He was still ready to fight. 

“Why not?” The question wasn’t rhetorical. Jeonghan wasn’t looking away. 

“It--I don’t think…” Seungcheol didn’t know how to phrase it without completely giving himself up. “I don’t think it would be fair.” 

“But abandoning me after being intimate with me, and then lying through your teeth about being okay about it—that’s fair? That’s more fair than just talking to me?” 

There was something horrible in Jeonghan’s tone, sad and confused and desperate, and Seungcheol couldn’t stand being the cause of it, being the one doing that to Jeonghan. He sounded so upset, so raw and real, and Seungcheol knew that he couldn’t hurt Jeonghan like this, even if he’d wanted to. The explanation came tumbling out of him before he’d even fully planned on saying it, and it felt a little rushed, a little jumbled. 

“You want to be my friend, and that’s fine, except--except all I want to do is kiss you, and touch you, and--and that’s not fair to you, because… I can’t be the friend that you want, and all I can do is upset you. I can’t--I like you too much to pretend to just be your friend instead.” 

Jeonghan stood there for a moment, simply staring and taking him in, his lips slightly parted. Then he surged forwards, fisting both of his hands in Seungcheol’s shirt, and kissed him fully on the mouth. 

Seungcheol couldn’t help the noise of surprise he made against Jeonghan’s lips, and he knew Jeonghan heard it, because he felt Jeonghan’s mouth curl into a smile. Jeonghan’s fingers loosened, one of them lying flat against his chest, the other sliding up slowly, up to his shoulder, up to the back of his neck, and Jeonghan pulled back to press his forehead to Seungcheol’s instead.

“Why didn’t you just say that, you idiot?” 

“What?”

“I can’t believe I like you this much, and you’re this stupid.” Jeonghan was laughing, and Seungcheol had to lean back, treated to a smile on Jeonghan’s face, a light in his eyes. “All I want to do is kiss you, too. I thought that was obvious with, you know, how I kept kissing you.” 

“I…” Seungcheol felt like his brain was still back sixty seconds ago when Jeonghan had kissed him, and it hadn’t caught up yet. 

“I have to apologize to Seokmin.” Jeonghan muttered, more to himself, and that had Seungcheol raising his eyebrows.

“You talked to your friends about me?”

“Of course I did.” 

“What about--” 

“Kiss me again.” Jeonghan said, threading the hand on the back of Seungcheol’s neck up into his hair. “Just kiss me again. Please.” 

Seungcheol had never been able to deny a request from Jeonghan before, and was starting to think he never would, leaning in. 

Jeonghan kissed him back, so hard it was almost bruising, like he was starving for it, his fingers curling into the front of Seungcheol’s shirt again. It completely knocked the wind out of Seungcheol, and he couldn’t help a gasp, finding Jeonghan’s hips with his hands, his grip tightening. When Jeonghan’s lips strayed from his mouth, trailing a line down his jaw, Seungcheol officially could not keep up.

“We can’t--” He started, and Jeonghan pulled back.

“Can’t what? Why?” 

Seungcheol felt too embarrassed not to laugh, pressing his head into the dip where Jeonghan’s neck met his shoulder. Jeonghan let his hand trail lightly down Seungcheol’s back.

“We’re outside.” Seungcheol reminded him. Jeonghan pulled back to look at him. His eyes had gone a warm, liquid brown. 

“We’re at my apartment, though. Want to come in?” 

Seungcheol wasn’t going to say no to that. It took them an embarrassing amount of time to actually make it to the door, Seungcheol biting at Jeonghan’s shoulder, Jeonghan nipping his bottom lip in response. They had barely made it inside before Seungcheol’s hands were on Jeonghan’s hips again, turning him to push his back against the door and kiss his neck. 

He wanted to hear Jeonghan moan, and was rewarded; the sound was loud and hot in his ear, Jeonghan running his hands up Seungcheol’s back, arching up off the door to get close, to press one of his thighs between both of Seungcheol’s own. 

_“Oh my god.”_ The words were English, loud, and offended. “I’ll leave, just please stop blocking the door.” 

The voice was Joshua’s, and Seungcheol’s face burned. He didn’t have the strength to turn around, but Jeonghan had no such problem, looking over Seungcheol’s shoulder. 

“Oh, hey Shua.” Jeonghan’s voice didn’t sound as clear and unbothered as he was probably trying to make it. Maybe because he was still pressed to the door, with Seungcheol’s face in his neck. Maybe because he still hadn’t moved his thigh away. “You were just leaving?”

“I am now. _Christ.”_ There was the snap of a closing laptop and some shuffling sounds, then Jeonghan let out a light laugh in Seungcheol’s ear.

“You can turn around. He’s gone into his room.” 

Seungcheol did, but he was still embarrassed by the show they’d put on. Jeonghan caught sight of his red face and began to giggle, the sound infectious, Seungcheol doing the same. They collapsed on the couch, still laughing a bit when Joshua reappeared. He had a bag over his shoulder and a hat on his head, giving them a disgruntled look. 

“Call me when it’s safe to come back here.” He said, slipping on his shoes. “You get to pay for the sage cleanse.”

“Fine.” Jeonghan said arily, resting his chin on Seungcheol’s shoulder. Joshua glanced at him again, his expression a bit more serious.

“And I want an apology.” 

“Fine, Shua.” Jeonghan said, the words drawn out in mock annoyance. Joshua rolled his eyes, but that annoyance looked fake too, and then he was out the door. Jeonghan pulled Seungcheol in for another kiss when the door closed, but much of the heat from before was gone, and Seungcheol pulled back.

“What does he want an apology for?” He asked, and Jeonghan sighed. 

“He called me dumb, because I thought you didn’t like me. So I might have said some things.” 

“Well, you are dumb for thinking I didn’t like you.” 

“You’re dumb for thinking I didn’t like you back.” Jeonghan informed him, and Seungcheol couldn’t really argue with that. “Hey, remember how I said that all I want to do is kiss you?”

Seungcheol just nodded a bit--it would take a bit of getting used to, Jeonghan saying something like that to him--and that light, wicked grin was on Jeonghan’s face again. Seungcheol wanted to kiss it off his mouth. So he did. 

He laid lengthwise on the couch, pulling Jeonghan on top of him so their legs tangled up, enjoying the closeness as he kissed him. Jeonghan was gorgeous on top of him, threading his fingers through Seungcheol’s hair, making small noises as Seungcheol let his hands slip up under Jeonghan’s shirt.

It didn’t escalate far enough for them to need to go into Jeonghan’s room for anything, eventually relaxing out into Jeonghan simply laying against Seungcheol’s chest. It was comfortable, so comfortable, Seungcheol bringing one knee up to more easily slot their hips together, reaching down to pet at Jeonghan’s hair. Jeonghan stretched his body like a cat, a contented sigh coming from his lips. 

“Wanna date me?” Seungcheol decided to ask. Jeonghan snorted out a laugh, pressing his face into the dip between the muscles of Seungcheol’s chest. 

“How did I know you would be a romantic?” He asked back, and that made Seungcheol laugh out loud, hooking his leg over Jeonghan’s body and wrapping him up in a full hug. Jeonghan managed to wiggle free enough to pull his phone from his pocket, scrolling for a few moments before letting out a sigh.

“What?” Seungcheol asked, very acutely aware that despite how wrapped up they were in each other, Jeonghan hadn’t answered his question yet.

“Joshua is being a little bitch on instagram again.” Jeonghan said. Seungcheol didn’t know Joshua and his instagram feed well enough to know what the “again” was referring to, but Jeonghan tilted his phone to show Seungcheol the current post; made about an hour ago, Joshua and Soonyoung in the frame, sitting together on a couch and making peace signs. 

_jhong1995: One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother._

Seungcheol laughed a bit, a grin on Jeonghan’s face as he typed out a response.

_1004_yjh: oh I forgot to tell you: I told soonyoung you liked him at the party, so you might as well lay one on him._

“Jeonghan!” Seungcheol yelped in surprise. “How could you do that?” 

“He’s slow. I’m just helping him.” Jeonghan insisted. “Plus, Soonyoung likes him back. Probably.” 

“Probably--” Seungcheol cut himself off, and Jeonghan began to giggle. He had something more pressing to worry about. “Are you… I already asked, but--do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“I thought I already was.” Jeonghan said, his eyes big in a mock innocent kind of way. Seungcheol gave him another squeeze.

“You know what I mean.” He insisted. Jeonghan didn’t drop the act. 

“We’re not dating? I have hearts by your name in my phone. I have your handle in my instagram bio. Didn’t we go on a date this weekend?” 

“Jeonghan…” Seungcheol whined, and Jeonghan laughed again, pressing a kiss to his lips. 

“If it’s not obvious, my answer is yes. I just wanted to hear you complain about it.”

“You’re awful.” Seungcheol informed him, leaning in to kiss him. And Jeonghan kissed back for just a moment before rocking his hips slightly, but with something that felt like intention. 

“Hm. Maybe you should see how awful I can be.” 

Jeonghan was going to kill him. Seungcheol was ready for it.

  
  


Seungkwan could honestly say that the fundraiser couldn’t be going better. They’d taken over a big grassy area in the middle of campus, setting up tables for different activities. It felt a bit like a juvenile carnival, even equipped with a face-painting station on one end and a fortune-telling tent on the other, but it was buzzing with activity; there were more people there than Seungkwan had anticipated, but with his friends willing to volunteer their time, things were still running smoothly. 

The square was loud with chatter, lots of yelling and laughing, Vernon standing next to him as he took it all in.

“You really did a great job with this.” Vernon told him. “I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but everyone is having a lot of fun.” 

The praise sent a glow of warmth through him. As if on cue, Soonyoung ran up to them. He was a perfect picture of “having a lot of fun”, absolutely beaming, smiling so hard his eyes were completely gone. Joshua’s hand was in his, and Joshua was being tugged along, not at all looking like he minded. Soonyoung had obviously just come back from the face-painting table, all orange and black and done up like a tiger. 

“Hi.” Seungkwan said. Soonyoung growled at him. 

The very last event was the date auction, something Seungkwan had been actively trying not to think about over the past week. In a twist of dramatic irony, it had been decided that Vernon would be the auctioneer for the event, in charge of moderating the amounts of money people were offering up, and would ultimately be passing Seungkwan off to the highest bidder. Seungkwan had already decided that he would just have to go on the date, be kind for the evening, and then turn the person down if they tried for a second date, or asked him for his phone number. 

“You ready?” Vernon asked Seungkwan, who fought a blush off his face and nodded. This was going to be so embarrassing. Then Seokmin handed Vernon a mic, and he got the crowd’s attention. 

“Hey everyone!” He started, and it took a bit for the bustle to calm down. Through the throng of people, the only one of his friends that Seungkwan could see was Mingyu. “Support today has been great, and we have one more event before we’re going to wrap it up. The extremely lucky highest bidder gets to go on a date with the one and only Boo Seungkwan.”

Vernon gestured to Seungkwan, who felt a little flustered; he floundered for a moment before flashing a peace sign, and next to him he heard Vernon laugh a little. 

“Seungkwan is quite the catch.” Vernon informed the audience, and again, Seungkwan had to will himself not to blush. “He’s got a cute voice, a beautiful face, and--” Then Vernon reached over and gripped him by the shoulder, spun him around, and with his free hand, hit Seungkwan on the butt. “--a great ass. So! Let’s get started.”

Not blushing wasn’t even an option anymore; Seungkwan spun back around to look at Vernon in shock, a surprised laugh leaving his mouth. Vernon was wearing a teasing smile, winking at Seungkwan when their eyes met, and Seungkwan was pretty sure he felt his soul leave his body. 

Thankfully, people seemed to agree, and were actually bidding. By the time it had gotten to a level that Seungkwan found to be a bit much, not considering an evening with himself to be worth the figures being thrown up, only two guys were left. 

“Over here!” Came a shout, Seungkwan looking up. Minghao had clambered onto Mingyu’s shoulders, and he was holding something up; it took a bit of staring to realize that it was a blown up photo of Vernon’s face, his expression completely deadpan in purple lensed sunglasses and a yellow beanie, Minghao having stuck the picture to a popsicle stick so he could brandish it in the air. 

Minghao was now battling it out with the two men, upping the price with every exclamation, and Seungkwan had absolutely no idea what he was doing. Mingyu had an incredible smile on his face, holding onto Minghao’s thighs to keep him steady. 

The amount they finally reached truly was ridiculous, and Minghao ended up victorious as the last guy finally tapped out. Vernon announced him to be the winner, Mingyu letting out a wooping cheer as Minghao brandished his popsicle stick so wildly that the Vernon face almost came free.

“And that’s a wrap on this year’s fundraiser!” Vernon said, looking both perplexed and amused by his friends’ actions, but trying his best to end the event all the same. “Minghao, come say hi to who you’ve won, and thank you again to everyone for participating!” 

Seungkwan took the mic too, giving out “thank you”s to the guests as people began to disperse. Instead of just Minghao coming up--or Minghao and Mingyu, because Minghao was still up on Mingyu’s shoulders--Seungkwan saw his entire friend group advancing on them.

“Seriously, what’s going on?!” He asked them indignantly, because the grin on Chan’s face was too wide to not be incriminating. “If you guys were worried about me, it’s really okay; I can handle one date with a stranger.” 

“You don’t want to go on a date with a stranger, though.” Jeonghan said; he had one arm looped around Seungcheol’s bicep, the other around Wonwoo’s. Minghao was clambering down, Mingyu careful to help him to the ground. “You want to go on a date with Vernon.”

“I--what?” Seungkwan stuttered out, too stunned not to take the Vernon-headed popsicle stick when Minghao offered it to him. It truly was a terrible photo of Vernon. Seungkwan kind of loved it.

“We pooled our money together!” Seokmin exclaimed, and how Seokmin had managed to hide this from him, Seungkwan had no idea; he must be hanging out with Jeonghan too much. “We’re giving the date to Vernon. He can take you out.” 

“But--that’s not how--he doesn’t--” A quick look Vernon’s way told Seungkwan that he’d had no hand in this, which both made Seungkwan feel a bit better, and a bit embarrassed on Vernon’s behalf. “He doesn’t want to go on a date with me. That’s stupid.”

“No, I do.” Vernon said, and Seungkwan spun quickly to stare at him. “I like you, Seungkwan. Let’s go on a date.” 

Seungkwan knew he was standing and gaping like a fish, but he didn’t have the wherewithal to pull himself together any better than that. 

“You… You like me?” He asked. 

“Wow, this is painful.” Jihoon muttered. Vernon began to grin. 

“I do.” He answered. “I really, really do.” 

“...you’re joking.” Seungkwan spun around, half because he was in pure disbelief and half because he was considering bolting, but he and Vernon had been completely surrounded. Junhui was at his back, and Seungkwan didn’t even want to try running past Junhui. “You’re actually joking, and it’s not funny, and--”

“Seungkwan.” Vernon held out a hand. “Can I take you on a date?”

The smile on Vernon’s face didn’t look like a joke, and hesitantly, Seungkwan reached back. Mingyu led a cheer, and Seungkwan felt his face burning, letting Vernon lead him away. They were quiet while they walked, and it wasn’t until they’d gone a good ways away from just about everything that Seungkwan had to stop. 

“What just happened?” He asked. Vernon, who was still holding his hand, burst out into a laugh and gave Seungkwan’s fingers a squeeze.

“I guess our friends could tell that I have a big crush on you, and decided to do something nice.” He answered. There was no one around them now, no laughing Soonyoung or smirking Chan, and Seungkwan just had to blink at him.

“You--this isn’t a joke?” 

“Why would this be a joke?” Vernon asked back. He was still smiling. He was smiling fully at Seungkwan, and it almost felt like too much. 

“Because--because our friends are complete idiots, and this--this whole thing is ridiculous!”

“It is ridiculous.” Vernon agreed. He was still holding his hand. “We don’t have to go on a date if you don’t want to.” 

“No!” Seungkwan exclaimed, the idea of _not_ wanting to go on a date with Vernon even more ludicrous than the whole rest of the situation. “Of course I want to!” 

“Of course?” Vernon echoed. He was beaming, and Seungkwan’s heart skipped in his chest. He felt his face go warm, and he had to look away, feeling Vernon squeeze his hand again. 

“Shut up.” Seungkwan grumbled at him. 

“Do you like pizza?” Vernon asked in response. 

Seungkwan loved pizza, if it was Vernon inviting him. They soon found themselves in the tiny pizza place just off campus, Vernon sipping at some Coca-Cola through a straw, Seungkwan trying not to pinch himself.

“Wait, you like me?” He asked. The words were loud, and he knew that, but Vernon didn’t try to hush him, just laughing instead.

“Yeah. I do.” When Seungkwan didn’t respond, Vernon spoke again. “I like you, Seungkwan.” 

“In like… A gay way?” 

“Definitely.” 

“...why?” 

“Because you’re funny. You’re handsome.” Vernon shrugged, all casual and open, like the words weren’t doing permanent damage to Seungkwan’s heart. “Being around you makes me happy.”

Seungkwan blinked a couple of times, surprised both by the words, and by the fact that Vernon had genuinely answered, like he understood that the question had been a real one, and not Seungkwan trying to do something like fish for compliments. Then Seungkwan really did pinch himself, jumping and wincing and whining as he rubbed at the now-red skin of his arm. Vernon wasn’t trying to hide his amusement. 

“Is it really so hard to believe?” He asked instead. 

“I--well, no I guess, but I just--I like you too.” The words were a little hard to get out, a little soul-bearing and a little embarrassing, but not nearly as damaging as the smile Vernon gave when he said them. “I’ve liked you for weeks, I just…”

“Oh?” Vernon raised his eyebrows. “I could have made a move sooner?”

“You were--you were going to make a move?” Seungkwan squeaked back. 

“You really don’t understand this whole ‘me liking you’ thing, huh.” 

“Shut up! I’m nervous.” 

Vernon just laughed again, taking a bite of his pizza, swallowing it down before speaking. “You’re so cute.” 

It took until the pizza was gone for Seungkwan to really have it feel real, that Vernon actually liked him back, that this wasn’t some waking dream gone too far or a hopeful hallucination. Vernon _liked_ him, and as they left the pizza place, Seungkwan stepped close and slipped his hand into Vernon’s. It felt nice, holding Vernon’s hand, and Vernon glanced over at him with a little grin.

“Where to next?” Vernon asked him. Seungkwan only had to think for a moment.

“Could we get ice cream again?”

The convenience store was a bit of a walk, and on the way Vernon talked about the aftermath of Seungkwan’s first time at the radio station; namely, how hard Jihoon had teased him, and the list Chan had been paid to make. Seungkwan was particularly amused by the part where Vernon had thought he was dating Seokmin. 

“It’s okay.” He told Vernon, once he’d finished laughing. “Seokmin’s mom thought the same thing.”

Vernon held the door open for Seungkwan to pass into the convenience store first, the maneuver taking a bit of coordination with the way Seungkwan didn’t want to let go of Vernon’s hand.

“You don’t have to act like you’re being chivalrous.” Seungkwan teased, just because he could. “I know you’re actually just looking at my butt.”

“Hey, I can do both.” Vernon responded, and the words made Seungkwan do a double take.

“Wait, you look at my butt?”

Vernon shrugged. “Sometimes.” 

“I mean--I mean, I don’t blame you I guess, but…” That made Vernon laugh loudly again; it was becoming Seungkwan’s favorite sound. “I can’t believe you’ve looked at my butt.” 

Up until getting their ice cream was apparently the allotted amount of time for privacy from their friends; both of their phones began blowing up almost incessantly. Vernon simply silenced his, but Seungkwan couldn’t do the same, pulling his out to look at it. He was shocked by the amount of messages, surprised to find that even Wonwoo had texted him. 

“Well?” Vernon asked.

“They all seem very invested.” Seungkwan reported. “Everyone wants to know if you’ve kissed me yet.” 

“Can I?” 

Seungkwan was starting to wonder when he’d come across a sentence from Vernon that _wouldn’t_ give him whiplash. 

“You… You don’t have to ask.” Seungkwan told him, hoping that got across just how obviously he wanted a kiss, without him having to say it. 

“Yes, I do.” Vernon said instead, simply looking at him.

“I--yes. You can. Of course you can.” 

Vernon leaned close. They were holding their ice creams, their free hands entangled, and Vernon didn’t let go, just squeezing Seungkwan’s hand a bit as he closed the distance between them. Vernon’s mouth was soft, gentle against his, and tasting of vanilla ice cream. Seungkwan was mentally writing this day up as one of the absolute best in his life. 

By the time the ice cream was eaten, they’d both been invited multiple times by Soonyoung to his apartment, agreeing to meet them there. Vernon claimed to know where it was, but Seungkwan was glad Soonyoung had sent the address anyway, because while they made it to the actual apartment building okay, Vernon had absolutely no idea which apartment was theirs, and hadn’t thought to mention it until they’d already climbed halfway up a set of exterior stairs. When they reached the door though, Seungkwan stopped him. 

“Can…” They were about to enter a mess of noise, and while Seungkwan adored each of his friends with every bit of his being, staying like this with Vernon was nice too, and Seungkwan wanted to hold onto it for just a bit longer. “Can you kiss me again?” 

“You don’t have to ask.” Vernon told him, a smile breaking out onto his face, mirrored on Seungkwan’s own as he responded. 

“Yes, I do.” 

The happy curl was still on Vernon’s lips as they met Seungkwan’s, but it disappeared as Seungkwan deepened the kiss, looping his arms around Vernon’s neck to pull him close. He let one hand travel a little higher, threading gently through the hair at the nape of Vernon’s neck, massaging the skin a bit with his fingers. Vernon’s arms went around his waist, then slipped a little lower, then completely slid into the back pockets of Seungkwan’s jeans, and Seungkwan liked that very, very much. 

“We can see you through the peephole!” Came a shout, loud and slightly muffled and undoubtedly Soonyoung, and Vernon cracked up, pulling back to laugh. 

“I’m going to kill Soonyoung.” Seungkwan declared, once he’d gotten his breath back.

“You’ll have to catch me first!” Soonyoung exclaimed. Seungkwan really did want to be annoyed, but Vernon was laughing too hard for the feeling to really stick. 

“You ready to go in?” Vernon asked, slipping his hand into Seungkwan’s as easily as anything, and Seungkwan let out a sigh. 

“Yes. Let’s go.” 

There was a full-fledged hangout happening in Soonyoung’s apartment. As a result, eleven voices cheered for the two of them as they stepped in. Seungkwan felt his face go hot, directing his gaze towards the floor. Vernon however, didn’t seem to share Seungkwan’s embarrassment at all; he just lifted his and Seungkwan’s entwined hands up in the air like he’d won something, making Seungkwan laugh and swat at Vernon in protest. It was painfully sweet though, how open Vernon was being, how unabashed and happy the idea of being Seungkwan's boyfriend seemed to make him. It made Seungkwan want to cry, just a little bit. It also made Seungkwan want to kiss him all over, but apparently, that would have to wait.

Soonyoung was giggling, hopped all the way up on the back of the couch, sitting up behind Joshua, his legs spread so his feet touched the cushions and seemed to box in Joshua’s body. He had his head ducked down in a half attempt to hide behind Joshua’s shoulders. Seungkwan hadn’t forgotten his declared threat on Soonyoung’s life, and Soonyoung evidently hadn’t either, grinning almost like he wanted Seungkwan to try following through with it. Joshua was smiling too, glancing between them.

“If he comes after you, I’m not going to try to save you.” He warned Soonyoung. Seungkwan wasn’t planning on it--not yet, at least--because chasing Soonyoung would mean letting go of Vernon’s hand. 

“Hey!” Soonyoung yelped. “How good of a boyfriend are you if you won’t lay down your life for me?”

“Excuse me, how good of a what?” Jihoon asked, when Joshua didn’t respond. He was perched sideways on the armrest of the couch, his legs in Mingyu’s lap, Mingyu’s hands resting comfortably on his knees. When Soonyoung’s grin widened instead of answering, Jihoon went from surprised to indignant. “When did that happen? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“You didn’t tell me about your relationship either.” Soonyoung retorted, putting his chin on Joshua’s shoulder, tilting his head so that it rested against Joshua’s. Joshua let him. “Figured it was fair.”

“Because you already knew!” Jihoon exclaimed. “Two years of waiting, and you didn’t even tell me. I’m writing you out of my will. I hate you.” 

“No!” Soonyoung whined mournfully, and Mingyu let out a loud laugh.

“Oh, no you don’t.” He told Jihoon. “You love him and want him to be your best friend forever, and ever, and--” 

The rest of whatever teasing thing Mingyu was going to say was cut off as Jihoon put his hand over Mingyu’s mouth. 

“I can hide your body so no one will find it.” He warned. Mingyu looked absolutely delighted by the prospect, and Wonwoo, who was next to the two of them, snorted in amusement. 

“Everybody shut up!” Chan exclaimed, wildly waving his arms. “I want to hear about their date!” 

That was seconded excitedly by Seokmin, and then all eyes were on them.

“Want to sit down?” Vernon offered Seungkwan, who nodded. The couches were full, and Seungkwan wasn’t in the mood to sit on someone like Minghao was doing--curled up on Junhui’s lap and looking extremely comfortable--so he and Vernon picked out a patch of carpet. 

Though Vernon started the story, Seungkwan ended up doing most of the talking. It was something he was bad about, and he knew that, but Vernon seemed completely content to let him do it, watching him and grinning, an old compliment Vernon had given him coming to mind. _“I like watching you talk.”_ It hit a little bit harder to know that Vernon genuinely meant it. 

They were all a very good audience, gasping and cooing and exclaiming in all the right places, and twice Seungkwan had to stop talking and hide his face in Vernon’s shoulder. The recount of their date had Minghao telling some of the other embarrassing dates from Vernon’s past, and that just morphed into bad date stories in general, from Jeonghan being genuinely mistaken for a woman his freshman year of college by a man up until the fourth date, to Mingyu dropping a wok on his date’s foot, both burning and breaking his toe, and having to drive him to the hospital. 

“Alright, Seungkwan.” Seungcheol extended his finger in Seungkwan’s direction. If a shiver of fear went up Seungkwan’s spine as he noticed the bulge of Seungcheol’s bicep, then that was his business. “You’d better not hurt my friend.”

“Hey, don’t.” Vernon chastised.

“Besides, I know you’re--what were Vernon’s words? A big softie?” Seungkwan said, Seungcheol’s eyebrows going up his forehead. “Stop hurting Jeonghan’s feelings, and then we’ll talk.” 

“I already apologized for that!” Seungcheol complained, the entire room booing Seungcheol, while Jeonghan laughed at Seungkwan’s back talk, snuggling himself under Seungcheol’s arm. 

“Don’t worry.” He said. “We talked about it--after he made it up to me.” 

“Yeah, you’re dating a vampire.” Joshua grumbled, probably about the love-bite that was just barely peeking out of the collar of Jeonghan’s shirt, and Jeonghan just grinned a bit more. 

“You’re dating a tiger.” Wonwoo warned Joshua. “Glass houses. Wouldn’t throw any stones.” 

Jihoon laughed. Soonyoung curled his hands into claws. Mingyu got up off the couch, Jihoon jumping off the armrest to wrap his arms around Mingyu’s neck. Despite the unexpectedness of the action, as well as Mingyu’s clumsiness, he didn’t drop Jihoon, recovering from the surprise quickly and catching him under the thighs. 

“Me and my jetpack are going to make some food.” He said. “Any requests?” 

A couple suggestions were called out, but it was unclear if Mingyu was listening to any of them as he disappeared into the kitchen with his boyfriend. Conversation continued but Seungkwan felt himself tuning it out, letting himself lean against Vernon’s shoulder.

“You good?” Vernon asked him, glancing over.

“Yeah.” Seungkwan let his lips pout up, glancing back. He reached up, massaging Vernon’s earlobe for a moment. Everything about Vernon was just so pretty, and it hit Seungkwan all over again that this--that _he--_ was his boyfriend. “Kind of just want to kiss you, though.” 

“We can do that later.” Vernon said, but he adjusted his position, straightening out his legs across the rug and leaning back against the couch. Seungkwan felt a bit disgruntled about being jostled from the perch his chin had on Vernon’s shoulder until Vernon beckoned him close. “Come here.” 

So Seungkwan did, putting himself on the floor between Vernon’s legs, leaning against Vernon’s chest, and Vernon wrapped his arms around him. It was so comfortable, being cuddled, being held, and Seungkwan couldn’t help a sigh that made Vernon squeeze him just a bit tighter. 

Seokmin had noticed and, maybe concerned by the pout on Seungkwan’s face and the extra closeness, slipped onto the floor and scooted over to them. The conversation around them had reached a near-shouting volume, so no one noticed the question except Seungkwan himself.

“Are you happy?” 

Seungkwan wasn’t sure if Seokmin meant right now, in this moment, or for the day, or in general. Life wasn’t going to take it easy on him, and he still had school to get through, and budding relationships were never easy. But Seungkwan had his friends around him, friends he trusted and loved, and with Vernon’s thumb rubbing a small circle on his stomach--the comforting action seemingly an unthinking one, with the way his attention had been completely stolen by some story Minghao was telling--and Seungkwan was able to answer honestly.

“Yeah. I am.” He smiled, and Seokmin smiled back. “I really, really am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! I wanted to write something light and fun and funny, so I hope this fic could be that for you all, too. As always, I appreciate every single one of you ♡ I'm all wrapped up in different fic fests and exchanges right now, so I can't say what my next work will be or when it'll be posted, but whatever that fic is, it'll be my 21st svt fic and my 100th fic overall on ao3! which is uh. absolutely wild. maybe I'll make a tray of celebratory brownies or something. I think I have a box of brownie mix in my pantry. ANYWAY! huge thank you to everyone that enjoyed this story, don't hesitate to chat me up on twitter [here!!](https://twitter.com/sudamasochist) I love talking to people and I promise I don't bite ♡


End file.
